Hundreds of Tunisians demonstrated Saturday to demand «the return of the constitutional process,» a protest called by the Salvation Front just days before early legislative elections called by President Kais Saied and boycotted by the opposition.
The protest, which took place in the center of the capital, Tunis, ended without serious incidents, amid chants calling for the departure from power of Saied, who in July 2021 arrogated to himself all powers after dissolving the government and suspending the parliament, dissolved months later.
According to information gathered by the Tunisian state news agency, TAP, the participants in the protest denounced the deterioration of social and economic conditions and the political crisis in the country, while supporting the boycott of the legislative elections of December 17.
The president of the Salvation Front, Ahmed Neyib Chebi, stressed that the opposition coalition «is a force heard in Tunisia and abroad» and argued that Saied «is isolated within his own country». Thus, he reiterated his bet on the departure of the president from power and the creation of a government of salvation.
In this sense, Chebi explained in declarations to the Tunisian radio station Mosaique FM that «the mission (of this salvation government) would be to carry out economic, political and constitutional reforms that would allow Tunisia to regain legitimacy through real elections».
For his part, the former Tunisian Prime Minister, Ali Laarayedh, a senior member of the Islamist Ennahda party, denounced that «Saied continues to repress freedoms in order to achieve an electoral farce through which to try to achieve additional legitimacy».
The opposition has already boycotted the constitutional referendum of July, which strengthened the powers of the president and reduced the weight of the Parliament, part of a series of reforms promoted by Saied, criticized by the opposition for what they describe as an authoritarian drift.
