On Thursday, Tunisians turn to the vote to withdraw confidence from Parliament Speaker Rashid Ghannouchi, at a time when the chances of Ghannouchi staying at the head of the legislative institution have become equal to his departure, according to assurances by allies of Ghannouchi and his opponents from within the parliamentary blocs.
The Parliamentary office unanimously approved that the vote on the no-confidence list be secret, while passing it requires an absolute majority of 109 votes out of a total of 217.
Ghannouchi was elected Speaker of the Tunisian Parliament on November 13, 2019 by 123 votes, to occupy his first official position in the country after his return from exile during the revolution that toppled the regime of the late President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
On July 16, four parliamentary blocs - the Democratic Bloc, the Reform Bloc, the National Bloc, and the Long Live Tunisia - filed a motion of no-confidence from the Speaker after collecting 73 signatures from its deputies.
The Free Constitutional Bloc (16 seats) stated that it would proceed to vote to withdraw confidence from the Speaker of Parliament, amid accusations that it aggravated the parliamentary scene and disrupted its sessions, in the service of internal and external coup agendas lying in wait for the democratic path in the country.
Ghannouchi stressed, since his days of confidence, that the session of withdrawing confidence from him would turn into a moment for renewing and recommending confidence, stating that he did not come "on the back of a tank, but through democratic mechanisms and elections."
The list fell
and the official spokesman for the Ennahda movement, Imad Khamiri, expressed his confidence in the fall of the no-confidence list from the parliament speaker during the scheduled session tomorrow, and not passing it.
He adds in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, "Those who are requesting the withdrawal of confidence now from the speaker of parliament had no credit for being on his head, and the majority that granted him the honor of the presidency still exists for this moment and strongly supports him."
And he notes that the accusations made by the signatories to the withdrawal of confidence petition related to his mismanagement of Parliament are attributable to their owners with official numbers and indicators in terms of occupying committees, public hearings and supervisory work "despite all attempts to disrupt."
And he confirms that the petition to withdraw confidence belongs in part to a "fascist right-wing bloc led by Abeer Moussa, who sought from the first day to confuse the work of Parliament and disrupt its sessions, and then withdraw confidence from its president as an ideological opponent," he said.
Khamiri regrets the fact that partisan blocs participated in this scheme in the service of narrow political calculations, related to the no-confidence list from Prime Minister Elias Al-Fakhakhakh resigned, in which Al-Nahda participated with other blocs.
Clearance
The Parliament’s "Dignity Coalition" bloc rushed to issue a statement in which it affirmed "clearing its innocence" and boycotting the voting session to withdraw confidence from the Speaker of Parliament, warning that the list is only "the beginning of the militarization of the defunct regime of the coup against the gains of the revolution and the values of peaceful coexistence."
The coalition expressed regret that some parties affiliated with the revolution and the democratic family were involved in a battle that represented an extension of the Ben Ali regime targeting the Renaissance movement.
Walid al-Jallad, a member of Parliament's Longhair Bloc in Parliament, confirmed to local media that they reached the quorum for withdrawing confidence from the Speaker of Parliament, while 3 parliamentary blocs - Long live Tunisia, the Democratic Bloc, and the Reform Bloc - published a joint statement in which they called their counterparts to vote to withdraw confidence.
The blocks justified their demand for what they described as the accumulation of executive mistakes of the Speaker of Parliament and the overriding of his powers, denying the existence of any ideological motives to target the Renaissance movement from behind this step.
The representative of the Democratic Movement, Ziad Al-Ghannay, expresses his hope that tomorrow's session will succeed in withdrawing confidence from Parliament Speaker Rashid Ghannouchi, stressing that he had fulfilled all the opportunities presented to him to manage the parliament legally.
In a statement to Al-Jazeera Net, Al-Ghanai condemns the exploitation of Ghannouchi to lead the parliament in the service of narrow party agendas, and to achieve personal goals, which contributed to the vilification of parliament, as he put it. Pointing out that some of Al-Nahda's deputies may actually move to withdraw confidence from Ghannouchi.
The MP considers that the attempt to link the withdrawal of confidence to the victory of the counter-revolution and the service of the agendas of the anti-democratic forces is a fractured disc that is returned to its owners, stressing that his party will sue the parties that accused the deputies of receiving money in exchange for passing the list.
Heart of Tunisia and the heart of the equation,
and observers believe that the mass of the Heart of Tunisia, which has not yet clarified its position on the session of no-confidence, will be the decisive party in tipping the balance of Ghannouchi or his opponents.
In this regard, the party's official spokesman, Mohamed Sadiq Jebnoun, affirms that his bloc will take into account in its vote the national interest, the stability of the state's sovereign institutions and the endeavor to find coherent political ground in Tunisia.
In his speech to Al Jazeera Net, Jaboune admits that, to some extent, pressure is being exerted on the heart of Tunisia to push him towards voting while withdrawing confidence from the Speaker, in return for promises to grant the Presidency of the Parliament to the leadership of the same party the first deputy speaker of Parliament, Samira Chaouchi.
And he stresses that his party will not yield to any threat or temptation from this or that party and will judge by its independent decision that will take into account the supreme interest of the country, he said.