Tunisian President Kais Saied said during a meeting with Prime Minister Najla Boden late Thursday evening that parliamentary elections will not take place after 3 months, according to a presidential post on Facebook.

Saeed expressed his astonishment at the talk about the necessity of holding parliamentary elections within 3 months after announcing the dissolution of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People. During presenting the results of the electronic consultation on constitutional and legal reforms, he considered that whoever wants to implement Chapter 89 of the constitution is delusional, as he described it.

Article 89 of the Tunisian Constitution stipulates that if the House of Representatives is dissolved, legislative elections must be held within a period of no less than 45 days and a maximum of 90 days.

The Tunisian president also stressed that the dialogue will not be with those who wanted to overthrow the state, those who plundered its resources, and those who resort to violence and divide the people, he said.

Saeed warned anyone who wants to harm the state and the strength of Tunisians during the month of Ramadan, stressing that the law will be the final decision, as he put it.

Police close the Tunisian parliament (European News Agency)

American concern

Earlier, the United States and the United Nations expressed concern about Kais Saied's decision to dissolve parliament, while the Ennahda movement and other political forces denounced the decision as a violation of the constitution, amid increasing calls to organize early elections.

US State Department spokesman Ned Price said - during the daily press briefing at the ministry's headquarters in Washington - that his country is deeply concerned about the Tunisian president's decision to dissolve parliament and prosecute some of his deputies.

Price added that Washington has repeatedly told the Tunisian authorities that any reform must be transparent and in consultation with all political forces.

In New York, Farhan Haq, spokesman for the Secretary-General of the United Nations, expressed the organization's concern about Tunisian President Kais Saied's decision to dissolve parliament, calling on all parties to refrain from any actions that lead to more political tension.

The US and UN statements come as Saeed reiterated yesterday, Thursday, that the parliament’s adoption - during the plenary session held on Wednesday - a law canceling the exceptional measures announced by the president last July 25, was a failed coup attempt and a conspiracy against the security of the state and a desperate attempt to undermine its unity, as he put it.

The Tunisian president announced the day before yesterday, Wednesday, the dissolution of Parliament, which has been frozen for more than 8 months, based on Chapter 72 of the Constitution, and justified this by preserving the state and its institutions, accusing the deputies who met to cancel the exceptional measures of conspiring against the state.

Saeed’s decision to dissolve parliament came after a meeting of parliament members held remotely, in which they voted by 116 of the total of 217 deputies in favor of canceling the exceptional presidential decrees that grant the president almost absolute powers, foremost of which is the presidential order 117.

Refusal

Meanwhile, the dissolved Tunisian parliament speaker, Rached Ghannouchi, announced his refusal to dissolve the legislative institution, and confirmed that dozens of deputies had been summoned for interrogation.

In an interview with Al-Jazeera, Ghannouchi said that the decision to dissolve parliament represents a threat to Tunisia and its security, and pledged that the Ennahda movement - which he heads - will resist this decision by popular and legal means, calling for a national dialogue that includes all parties.

He added that the counter-terrorism squad summoned more than 30 deputies who participated in the virtual parliament session that was held on Wednesday and approved the cancellation of the exceptional measures announced by Saeed on last July 25, describing this development as a serious matter.

The dissolved parliament speaker also said that the head of state still refuses dialogue, and insists on monopolizing Tunisia's future, as he described it.

Ghannouchi considered that parliament is still standing (Al-Jazeera)

In another interview with Reuters, Ghannouchi said that Ennahda would boycott any referendum called by President Saied to unilaterally restructure the political system, and called for early elections, stressing in a separate interview with Agence France-Presse that he considers Parliament still standing.

In turn, the "Citizens Against the Coup" movement said that the Tunisian president's decision to dissolve parliament is a new distortion and an arbitrary interpretation of a clear constitutional chapter.

The former Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki called on Parliament to ignore the dissolution decision, and seek to gather a quorum to isolate President Said, and called on the military and security forces to choose clearly with whom to stand.

For its part, the Tunisian Democratic Current party expressed its rejection of the decision to dissolve parliament, describing it as "another violation of the constitution, and confirming Qais Saeed's coup intention," calling for "a calm and rational national dialogue for a roadmap that respects constitutional legitimacy."

In the same context, the Republican Party considered that the dissolution of Parliament is an escalating step that would push the country to the edge of the abyss, and falls within what it described as unconstitutional decisions issued by the President of the Republic.

The Tunisian Workers' Party (far left and not represented in Parliament) said the day before yesterday, Wednesday, that the parliament meeting and Kais Saied's reaction to dissolving it will plunge the country into a new phase of power struggle.

In this context, 40 professors of constitutional law in Tunisian universities issued a statement yesterday, Thursday, in which they criticized the gathering of powers in the hands of President Kais Saied, as well as the exceptional measures and the decision to dissolve parliament.

On the other hand, the Tunisian General Labor Union (the largest trade union in the country) welcomed the president's decision to dissolve parliament, but called on him to end exceptional procedures, stop accumulating powers and return to the democratic path.

The head of the Constitutional Free Party, Abeer Moussa, also welcomed the decision to dissolve parliament, and said that it should be accompanied by the call for legislative elections no later than the constitutional deadlines.