Qaid al-Sabsi and the witness .. Real reconciliation or maneuver policy?

Amal al-Hilali - Tunisia

The surprise of Tunisian President Béji Kayed Sibsi's call to lift the freeze on the membership of Prime Minister Yousuf Al-Shida in the Neda Tunis party has been a surprise for the political community, while observers have questioned whether this invitation is a desire for Sibsi to reconcile with the "angry son" or just a political maneuver.

"I ask you to lift the freeze on the Prime Minister Yusuf, the witness, he is the son of the appeal," Sibsi said during the inauguration of the first electoral conference of the Tunis appeal, addressing his supporters and party leaders.

The political body of the Tunis Appeal has already decided to freeze the witness's membership and to refer his file to the System Committee on 14 September 2018.

The conflict between the witness and the executive director of Tunisia's Hafez Qaid al-Sibsi, the president's son, reached a climax.

The resignation of eight deputies from the Tunis appeal and their joining the National Alliance bloc in support of the son's witness, led to a statement on 8 September 2018, in which he denounced what he called "the prime minister's preoccupation with political maneuvers and the split of party unity."

And entered the President of the Republic on the front line with the witness when he called explicitly to resign from the premiership or to go to parliament to regain confidence, saying that his government lost the political belt supporting them.

Return of witness

Huda Salim, MP from the National Coalition bloc and leader of the party "Long live Tunisia" in support of the witness, considered that the return of the witness to the Tunis appeal "is impossible."

"The project of Youssef the witness succeeded in uniting progressive democratic forces, and we are preparing in the Party of Long live Tunisia to hold our electoral conference on 28 April and there is no way to go back," Huda Salim said in a statement to Al Jazeera Net.

The leadership of the witness party wondered why many dissident leaders who resigned from Tunisia's appeal - including the prime minister - might return to it, with the same faces and problems.

On the other hand, she thanked the Tunisian President, considering his call for the consolidation of the progressive forces a positive message that would ease the political tension and calm the conflict between the heads of the executive authority.

Huda Selim stressed that the door of rapprochement between the two parties in a unified front remains open if Tunisia's call for radical reforms in the party and its leaders, pointing out that the departure of the son of the party is not enough.

She concluded that President al-Sibsi through these statements "is in search of Musharraf's exit from the big door after it caused divisions when he sided with his son at the expense of the interest of the party and the state."

Blame and remind

Some of the prominent leaders of the party "Live Tunisia" have interacted with the invitation to defy the defamation of the witness Joseph, where the former minister Mehdi bin Gharbiya - described as the "mastermind" of the witness - a post in the purpose was not without blame.

Bin Gharbiya described what he described as "unlimited attacks" against the witness and his government.

"Today, at least, we make sure that everything they have said for more than a year is nonsense, and that our choice from the beginning and the path that we are making is right."

In his first comment on his father's call to lift the freeze on the witness, al-Sibsi's son confirmed in local media statements that he would "respond to this request," and did not rule out that the prime minister was among the candidates for Tunisia's presidential appeal.

Towards lifting the freeze

MP from the parliamentary bloc of Tunisia's Appeal Ramzi Khamis told Al-Jazeera Net that his party would move during the conference to lift the freeze on the witness in response to the request of founding president Baiji Kayed al-Sibsi.

"The witness remains a member of Tunisia's appeal, and there is no real enmity between us, but differences that can be overcome."

The political and popular circles in Tunisia have interacted through social networks with Baji's call to lift the freeze on the prime minister, between those who consider it a genuine reconciliation and what he described as appeasement and political maneuvering.

"Al-Baji Qayed al-Sibsi is a great political maneuver," said political activist and political analyst Ibrahim al-Waslati. "The Tunisian activist, Rabab al-Sibai, wrote on her Facebook page with a picture of the witness," You will win all the conspiracies and maneuvers. Long live Tunisia. "

Political researcher Sami al-Jalouli said in a statement on Facebook: "Is Baji swallowing the witness and leaving the movement (Long Live Tunisia) for the Diaspora?" Al-Baji is a macabre fox and the only one who has not been in power since 2011.

He paid tribute to the leader of the party Long live Tunisia Sahabi bin Faraj on the invitation to defy the freezing of the witness, describing them by the end of the dispute between the two men.

"I think we are finally entering the stage of absorbing the tension that has imposed on political life in general and on the relationship between the head of state and the prime minister for more than a year," he said in a post.

The latest opinion polls showed clear progress for the witness party "Long Live Tunisia", which is competing with Tunisia's call for voting intentions for the upcoming legislative elections and sometimes bypasses it, while the prime minister issues presidential voting intentions.