Tunisia's President Kais Saied said Monday that the parliament will remain suspended until elections take place in December 2022, declaring that a referendum on constitutional reforms will be held in July.

Parliament will remain suspended until "elections take place under new laws on December 17 next year," he said.

In a speech on national TV, Saied declared a "popular consultation" with the Tunisian people and said that "other draft constitutional and other reforms will be put forward to referendum on July 25," a year after he suspended parliament.

Saied added that a nationwide public consultation will take place from January 1 until March 20 to collect suggestions for constitutional and other reforms, adding that a committee will be examining them until June.

"So if it's not possible for the sovereign people to practice its rights in the framework of a text, then there needs to be a new text."

Back in July, Tunisian President Kais Saied issued an executive order to remove Prime Minister Hichem al-Mashishi from his office and decided to fire Minister of Defense Ibrahim Bartagi and Minister of Justice Hasna Ben Suleiman.