The reactions of the political forces in Tunisia to President Kais Saied's actions continued, as the Tunisian Workers' Party announced the start of consultations and contacts with national parties and forces, to form a front in order to confront the president's actions.
The Secretary-General of the Tunisian Workers' Party, Hamma Hammami, reiterated his categorical rejection of the measures announced by President Said, and considered them to perpetuate the coup against the constitution and to establish the absolute rule of the individual.
And the Tunisian president - who announced two months ago the freezing of parliament and the dismissal of Prime Minister Hisham Al-Mashishi and the assumption of powers in the country - issued a presidential order last Wednesday that strengthened his powers in the constitution at the expense of the government and parliament.
He announced the abolition of the constitutionality monitoring body (an independent judiciary), the issuance of legislation by presidential decrees, and the assumption of executive power with the assistance of a government.
The leader of the Labor Party stressed that the measures announced by Saied are a new organization of the state and powers outside the framework of the constitution.
He added that Saied took advantage of what he described as the black decade of the rule of Ennahda and its allies, stressing that what happened was a coup within the political system itself. Hammami called on what he described as democratic and progressive forces to work together and confront this path, and put an end to the manipulation of the fate of Tunisians, as he put it.
Hammami described the president as a descendant of (Adolf) Hitler and (Benito) Mussolini (in reference to the German leaders, the founder of Nazism, and the Italian, the founder of fascism).
Hammami stressed - in a press conference organized by the party in the capital, Tunis - that the Workers' Party began consultations and contacts with national parties and forces to form a broad opposition to Said's measures, which adheres to the slogans of the revolution and rejects any form of tyranny and the combination of powers, which will establish an absolute, authoritarian individual rule.
As for the parties that the workers launched into contacts with, Hammami mentioned that they are, in principle, the Democratic Current Party, the Qutb Party and the Republican Party, as well as national, youth and civil forces (he did not clarify).
Hammami pointed out that the exceptional situation may be prolonged while waiting for Saeed to prepare a transitional and electoral law, in light of political silence and the absence of any discussion or dialogue that would bring the country out of its crisis.
Hammami renewed his accusation of the Ennahda movement (which has the largest parliamentary bloc) and its allies in power over the past decade responsible for the situation in the country.
Danger to democracy
The Tunisian Labor Union said that President Said's monopoly on amending the constitution and the electoral law is a danger to democracy.
A statement by the union warned of the dangers of limiting powers to the president in the absence of constitutional structures.
The union expressed its rejection of the continuation of the exceptional measures taken by the president and their transformation into a permanent state, and the Tunisian Labor Union added that there is no solution to the crisis in the country except through dialogue.
Rached Ghannouchi, Speaker of Parliament and leader of the Ennahda movement, described the decisions issued by President Said as a return to the rule of the absolute individual.
Ghannouchi added that peaceful struggle is the only option left for Tunisians to restore the constitution and democracy.