Tunisian President Kais Saied stated on Tuesday that he will not engage in deals with those he described as "traitors," apparently referring to the Ennahda party, the largest party in the suspended parliament. The Ennahda party called for a national dialogue to find a way forward after Saied ousted the Prime Minister on July 25 and froze the parliament's work, actions which the party termed a coup.
In a video clip broadcast online by the presidency, Saied said, "I will not deal with agents and traitors and those who pay money to harm their country. I will not negotiate with them." Local media reported that the Ennahda party paid money to a foreign lobbying firm, a claim the party denied.
Saied stated in the video, without mentioning the Ennahda party by name, "They paid nearly three million dinars to lobbying groups abroad to harm their country." After more than seven weeks since his intervention, which pushed Tunisia into its biggest political crisis since the establishment of democracy following the 2011 revolution that sparked the Arab Spring, Saied has yet to appoint a new Prime Minister or announce his intentions for the future.
One of his advisors told Reuters last week that he intends to suspend the constitution and present an amended version for a public referendum. The powerful Tunisian General Labour Union rejected this approach the following day, to which Saied later responded that any amendments to the constitution must be made within the current constitutional framework. The union, along with Ennahda, political parties, and Western democracies that supported Tunisia’s public finances, urged him to quickly form a new government and return to the constitutional order.
Saied remarked on Tuesday, "There must be a government. But what policy will this government adopt?"
