Muslim brotherhood snub’s Tunisia’s new parliament

Tunisia’s new parliament, which held its first session, has already run into problems, presenting a real problem for the polemic president of the country Kais Saied.

Tunisia’s Ennahda Movement said on March 13th it will not recognise the legitimacy of the country’s new Parliament, Anadolu News Agency reports.

The newly-elected Parliament convened for the first time in the capital, Tunis, on March 13th.

In a statement, Ennahda said it “will not recognise a Parliament that lacks legitimacy emanated from elections that were boycotted by more than 90 per cent of Tunisians”.

The Movement, an affiliate of the Muslim Brotherhood, said it still sticks to the 2014 Constitution and considers it “the sole source of legitimacy”, renewing its rejection of “unilateral decisions taken by the de facto authority”.

Ennahda had 53 seats in the 217-seat member Parliament, dissolved by President Kais Saied in 2021.

The March 13th session was held 20 months after Saied suspended the former parliament, sacked the Prime Minister and assumed executive authority, in a move decried by opponents as a “coup”.

Saied insists that his measures were meant to “save” the country after years of crisis.