Amal al-Hilali - Tunisia
After Tunisian President Qais Saeed returned to the task of choosing a figure to form the government, following the failure of the group proposed by Ennahda to win the confidence of the parliament, the president sent a letter to the parties and parliamentary blocs requesting them with written suggestions about the character that they see best for this task.
Contrary to the direct consultations with party leaders and political figures adopted by the former Prime Minister-designate, Habib al-Gamli, in choosing the composition of his ministers, Saeed considered that his interaction with the parties should be through messages, which posed more than one question about the reasons for this step.
The President called - in a signed letter - the parliamentary blocs and parties to present their written proposals on the person or figures that they see as the most capable of forming a government, with an indication of the reasons for this choice and the criteria that were adopted in that, provided that this be done not later than 16 of this month .
Chapter 89 of the Constitution states that in the event that the People's Assembly does not gain the confidence, the President of the Republic will, within ten days, conduct consultations with parties, coalitions, and parliamentary blocs to assign the person best able to form a government within a period not to exceed a month.
In the event that four months have passed since the first mandate, and the members of the People's Assembly did not give confidence to the government, the President of the Republic has the right to dissolve the People's Parliament and call for new legislative elections within a period of 45 days and a maximum of ninety days.
for the first time
The government proposed by Al-Nahda Movement - as the first party that won the legislative elections - had failed to gain the confidence of Parliament in a precedent that the successive governments had not known since the revolution, to pass the initiative constitutionally to the President of the Republic to choose the best person to form the government.
Many activists and political figures went on to say that Saeed's invitation to the parties - to present their proposals about the personality of the next prime minister in written and justified form - is a precautionary measure after the man became fed up with the maneuvers of the parties, their double positions secretly and publicly, and his lack of confidence in the entire party system.
The President acknowledged in more than one speech the failure of the current political system to resolve the crises the country is going through, calling for the necessity of amending the constitution and the electoral law that produced a dispersed and hybrid parliamentary scene.
Al-Gamali had previously consulted with the parties, in an atmosphere dominated by tension, mistrust and indifference among the party leaders, to hold each of them responsible for the fall of the previous government.
And the matter reached the point of denigrating the long consultations led by Al-Gamali, as some party leaders went out through the media, laughing at what was between them and the man, and they reached the point of talking about "tea bands" that Al-Gamali presented to his guests.
Previous position
The political analyst at Salem's portal considered that Saeed's invitation to the parties to present their candidate in written and reasoned stems from his previous position on the entire political class, which he considers to be one of the reasons for the Tunisian catastrophe after disappointing him on more than one occasion.
He continued, "It appears that this step adopted by the president has embarrassed the parties and put them before a huge political responsibility, through its written commitment, which subsequently prevents any denunciation or evasiveness, so that the argument will be against the one who claimed before the Tunisians."
In his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, he pointed out that Saeed found himself more than once isolated at a time when the parties were fighting for political positioning and dictating their terms, and he lived the contradictions of the parties and evaded them from political responsibility during his participation in the consultations to form the Al-Jamali government, which was aborted in Parliament.
He stressed that the president, by setting time limits for parties - should not be overlooked in submitting their written nominations - stems from his keenness on the need to accelerate the formation of the government after wasting about two months of failed negotiations between the parties in light of urgent economic and social challenges.
Several parties had announced their launch in internal consultations and between the blocs that converged with them in positions and visions to formulate a unified position on the proposed personality to head the government.
In this regard, Ayad Al-Loumi, a leader in the “Heart of Tunisia”, affirmed that the party, like other parties, received the message that the president sent.
Al-Loumi told Al-Jazeera Net that the constitutional chapter regarding the president's consultations with the parties came vague and did not specify the nature of these consultations and their mechanisms, pointing out that the ball is now in the president’s court in forming the government and respecting its deadlines.
He ruled out that Saeed's invitation to the parties - to present their proposals in written and reasoned form - would be embarrassing for them or for other blocs, praising the president's desire to accelerate the steps of forming the government and leaving a written effect to hold everyone accountable to the people.
Breach of the constitution
Yassin Al-Ayyari, deputy of the "Amal and Work" movement, said that the constitution provides for consultation and interaction between the president of the republic and the parties regarding consultations to form the government and the selection of the most capable personality, expressing his hope that Saeed's message to the parties is a first step pending other face-to-face meetings for discussion.
In a statement to Al-Jazeera Net, he warned against the consequences of the president's violation of what the Constitution stipulated in consultations between him and the parties and parliamentary blocs, and only notifying them through written messages, which could create an atmosphere of mistrust between all parties.
Al-Ayyari pointed out that his party has actually embarked on internal consultations among its rules to choose the most suitable figure to assume the presidency of the government.
On the other hand, activists of the communication platforms interacted with the President's speech to the parties, describing them as a "teacher blow" stemming from the lack of confidence in the parties and the political class and their ability to dodge.