Tunisia's Ennahdha Party Ready For 'self-critique'

Tunisia's Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party said Thursday it was ready for "self-critique", days after President Kais Saied suspended parliament and sacked the prime minister

Tunis, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 5th Aug, 2021 ) :Tunisia's Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party said Thursday it was ready for "self-critique", days after President Kais Saied suspended parliament and sacked the prime minister.

The largest party in parliament and leading an unwieldy coalition government, Ennahdha had been at loggerheads with Saied for months before his shock move on July 25, which it branded a "coup".

Ennahdha has been part of almost all parliamentary coalitions since Tunisia's 2011 revolution that ousted autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

Its Consultative Council "stresses the necessity of the party undertaking a profound internal self-critique of its policies", a statement said.

It also cited the need for "revisions and renewal" of its programmes and leadership structures.

The council, which met Wednesday, "expresses understanding of the growing popular anger, particularly among youth, as a result of economic and social failings" a decade after the revolution.

It said it held "the whole political class" responsible and urged "a speedy return to normal constitutional order and lifting the suspension of parliament".

The council also called for the presentation of a new government before the assembly.

Ennahdha is ready for "positive interaction to help overcome obstacles and secure the best conditions for resuming the democratic process", it added.

Saied's shock measures included suspending parliament for 30 days, lifting parliamentary immunity and sacking prime minister Hichem Mechichi, who also held the interior ministry.

The move came after months of political crisis and amid growing public anger over deep economic woes and spiralling coronavirus cases.

The president also fired the defence, justice, economy and communications technology ministers, as well as top officials.

New economy and communications technology ministers were named on Monday, while a new interior minister was named in late July.