Ghannouchi: I still adhere to my parliamentary capacity and I call on the president to retract his unconstitutional measures
Amman Today
publish date 2021-09-29 08:48:42
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera Net, Rashid Ghannouchi, head of the Ennahda Movement and Speaker of the Tunisian Parliament – which has been suspended – revealed his position on the wave of resignations that hit the party, and he also sent special messages to President Kais Saied regarding the measures he took last July 25, and responded to the accusations that He is responsible for the political crisis in the country.
What is your position on the resignation of more than 100 leaders in the movement, and will this affect the future of Ennahda and its cohesion?
I am deeply sorry for these resignations, which undoubtedly affect the movement and its cohesion, in addition to the fact that the resigning movement has invested in them for tens of years, as fighters within its structures and leadership. These brothers hastened to announce their resignation, although it was possible to dialogue and search for middle solutions in the horizon of the next conference before the end of this year, but to all of his appreciation.
In my opinion, such resignations push us to develop our institutions to be spaces for dialogue and integration of all existing trends within the movement, and to bet on renewal in thought, politics, and discourse, and to make room for the young leaders of the movement.
Experts in constitutional law believe that the president’s suspension of all grants and privileges granted to the speaker and his deputies is a stripping of their parliamentary capacity in preparation for the final dissolution of parliament.. What do you think?
Of course, it is a step in this direction, and Professor Qais Saeed has been following this approach since he announced the activation of Chapter 80 of the Constitution. He declared that he would respect the constitutional procedures, but later violated them, and announced that the suspension of Parliament would be for a month, but he later suspended it indefinitely, which is a procedure It is unconstitutional and affects a sovereign institution that was elected on the same terms as the election of the presidency and has the same legitimacy.
By the way, I call for a reversal of this illegal and unconstitutional procedure and all the exceptional measures that represented a coup against the constitution and the will of the people. Therefore, opening the door to dialogue and participation in shaping a new scene is better in all fields.
Do you still adhere to your parliamentary capacity at the head of the legislative institution? And if you go back in time, do you repeat the experience of your presidency?
I presided over the Parliament elected by the parliamentary majority after being elected by the people in the 2019 legislative elections, and I still adhere to my parliamentary capacity at the head of the Tunisian legislative institution, out of respect for this contract, and only the deputies themselves, or by a voluntary decision from me, can strip me of this capacity. For the national interest, otherwise it is a grave breach of the requirements of the constitution and an escape from the battle of democracy.
It is my appreciation that the day I applied for this position, my goal was to build a broad national consensus and not to let this institution fall into predominance or adventurism, but some ideological parties that lacked any program and any social and economic project for Tunisia were concerned with Rached Ghannouchi and Ennahda, tarnishing Parliament and insulting it, its work and its image in Inside and abroad, to serve the agenda of the counter-revolution and the coup on the democratic path, and what this required of a vast process of demonizing the parliament and its president as a prelude and marketing for the coup against democracy.
Many political leaders held you responsible for the situation in Parliament, and considered you one of the factors of tension and congestion within it by exploiting some blocs and your presence to settle ideological scores and score political points?
There is no doubt that my presence at the head of the legislative institution represented an opportunity to settle ideological accounts and nurture political rivalries that have nothing to do with the functioning of Parliament – which despite its targeting worked at a higher level than two previous sessions of Parliament – and achieved several legal reforms and enacted projects for the benefit of Tunisians, including but not limited to mentioning but not limited to. “Law No. 38 for Employing Unemployed Graduates,” and “Participatory Finance Law,” but it failed in other cases that did not achieve the required consensus due to the narrow calculations of some.
However, this does not hide the agenda drawn up by some parties to bring down the democratic experiment, even if he is not Ghannouchi at the head of Parliament. The virtuous Professor Samira Chawashi, Deputy Speaker of the Parliament, and others have been subjected to verbal attacks and many insults, even though they belong to different party systems.
Many say that the president proceeds with his decisions based on sweeping popular legitimacy. In your estimation, does this legitimacy fall after the demonstrations against him?
Democratic practice is based on mechanisms that enable to determine the popularity of any person, group or party, whether it is high or low, which is to resort to the ballot box and the elections, and only then the percentage of popularity for each party is determined. In the name of the people, and derives legitimacy and legitimacy from it.
This walking does not belong to democratic foundations, and therefore we are against every process of synthesis of popularity and legitimacy outside the framework of elections and ballot boxes, just as talking about legality cancels out the dissenting opinion and hijacks the street that cannot be on one opinion.
As for the demonstrations that took place on September 26, in which citizens from different directions, independents, and those who fear the democratic experience in the country participated, they undoubtedly refute the claim that the street is in favor of the policy pursued by the head of state. By election standards, Ennahda is the first party, and this is what the funds have said, and until another maturity comes, it will remain so.
Many Ennahda leaders justify not resorting to the option of the street and mobilizing supporters and bases in return for calling for dialogue as a policy adopted by the movement in the context of its civil struggle against the measures taken by the president. Today, after the president has gone through something like suspending the constitution, will Ennahda change its policy and resort to the street card, as it did previously?
The Ennahda movement is part of the political organization that rejects the actions of President Kais Saied, and it is not all the political organization or it is all the opposition. Ennahda, just as it acknowledged that religion is the affair of all Tunisians and is not a renaissance specialty, so is the battle of democracy and confronting the deviation of experience towards labyrinths that we do not know is also the affair of all Tunisians, and accordingly Ennahda does not present itself as the only defender of experience, and we do not hide that we are keen on that because democracy requires joint action and recognition of the role of other parties, organizations and civil society.
Accordingly, Ennahda will interact responsibly with all activities and events aimed at protecting the democratic experience and stopping the deterioration in partnership with the broadest national spectrum.
After last July 25, the political and partisan arena is witnessing a movement towards establishing fronts that raise the banner of defending democracy and against the coup against the constitution. Why did we not see Ennahda in any of them?
Ennahda is in constant contact with many political parties, and it does not harm it not to be part of any front at the moment. What is more important than being on the front is the unified stance against the coup, the unification of the march in order to preserve the country’s constitution, the democratic experience, and the realization of major reforms that will improve the investment climate and provide development opportunities. And employment for Tunisians and Tunisians.
On the day of the coup last July 25, we were the only ones who gave the correct description of what happened, and after two months there is only one party left to defend this coup, and yesterday’s scene on Al-Thawra Street, where the street gathered thousands of demonstrators with various political faces, indicates the direction of the development of politics again. To the consensus on the democratic choice.
(Al Jazeera Net)
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