At a time when the economic and social crisis in Tunisia is taking an upward turn and the prospects for political dialogue between the parties are blocked, calls have begun from political leaders of the President of the Republic, Qais Saeed, to activate Article 80 of the constitution.
This chapter - which constitutional experts described as the "tremendous power" in the hands of the president - gives the right to intervene in the event of an imminent danger threatening the security of the country, disrupt the state’s wheels, and take all measures it deems appropriate, after consulting the Prime Minister, the Speaker of Parliament, and the President of the Constitutional Court.
Political leaders from outside the parties supporting the prime minister began to issue calls through the media to President Qais Saeed to activate Chapter 80, justifying that of Prime Minister Hisham al-Mishishi in managing the wheels of the state, and his failure to contain the wave of social protests.
Tunisia is experiencing an unprecedented economic and social crisis, deepened by the Corona pandemic, amid the escalating wave of protests in a number of governorates, most of which have taken a violent and random turn, with the protesters deliberately closing production sites permanently.
I hate the solution
The head of the Parliament’s Finance Committee, a representative of the People's Movement, called on the president of the country to move towards activating this constitutional separation, indicating - in a media statement - that the country is facing an imminent danger, and that the government has become unable to contain the wave of tension.
For his part, the former Secretary-General of the Democratic Current Party, Mohamed Abbou, urged President Said to move towards interpreting the chapters of the constitution as he deems appropriate, including the activation of Article 80, calling on him to cut off the channels of dialogue with both the Ennahda movement, the Heart of Tunisia and the Dignity Coalition, and apply the law against them.
Against these calls, the Secretary-General of the People's Movement, Zuhair Maghzawi, described - in his speech to Al-Jazeera Net - the activation of Chapter 80 as "the most hated solution" to get out of the acute crisis the country is going through.
He pointed out that this proposal is the last legitimate solution available to the president, if the political and social dialogue reaches a dead end threatening to plunge the country into a cycle of violence and chaos.
Maghzawi warned of the transformation of Tunisian democracy, about 10 years after the revolution, to "corrupting" through the tendency of Tunisians to search for individual salvation, whether through protest that took violent forms or nostalgia for a new system of despotism.
And the president of the country had already waved months ago to use Chapter 80 of the constitution when the Free Constitutional Bloc, the descendant of the previous regime, suspended the parliament's work.
Said said at the time during his meeting with Parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi, that he would not remain idle in front of the collapsing state institutions and that he had the legal capabilities that would allow him to preserve the Tunisian state.
According to experts, Article 80 of the Tunisian constitution allows the president of the republic to suspend the principle of separation of powers and to interpret the provisions of the constitution in the absence of the Constitutional Court.
Labor union initiative
These calls coincide with the launch of the Labor Union Organization of a national initiative to rescue and exit from the current crisis, the contents of which were revealed during a meeting between President Qais Saeed and the Secretary-General of the Tussi Labor Union Noureddine Taboubi.
The organization said - in a statement - that the initiative, which includes theses related to the political, economic and social fields, was directed to the president as the sole guarantor of the implementation of the constitution and the unity of the country.
Among the most important items of the initiative is the establishment of a panel of wise men from various specializations made up of independent national figures working under the supervision of the presidency, with the task of managing the dialogue and bringing points of view between all the parties participating in the dialogue.
The initiative included, in part, an effort to assess the current political system (quasi-parliamentary), while the Union called for the necessity of launching into a societal dialogue that may result in an amendment or change to the entire existing system.
Intentions coup
For their part, political leaders from within the bloc supporting the prime minister have warned of any coup attempt under the cloak of Article 80 of the constitution, under the pretext of saving the state.
The leader of the Al-Karamah coalition, Abd al-Latif al-Alawi, said in his interview with Al-Jazeera Net that the calls for activating Article 80 betray the deliberate coup intentions of some "microscopic" parties that failed in the recent elections.
He pointed out that activating this separation has no legal meaning, because the country - according to his expression - "is not in a state of immediate danger, and the government is working to contain the protests and alleviate the social and economic tension."
He added, "Those who think that by activating Chapter 80 are targeting the legislative authority and dissolving Parliament, I invite them to read well this chapter, as the parliament will be in permanent session and will strengthen its legislative role."
At the end of his speech, the deputy held the president of the country with the political and moral responsibility for the consequences of moving towards activating this constitutional separation.