Tunisia’s Muslim Brotherhood… Failed Attempts to Infiltrate Through the UGTT Crisis

As usual, the Muslim Brotherhood is trying to seize on ongoing crises in the hope of returning to Tunisia’s political scene.

The latest attempt came through the mobilization of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), which is rallying its supporters to stage a massive demonstration in downtown Tunis next Thursday to defend its role on the national stage. The Brotherhood sought to exploit this mobilization as a means of undermining the country’s stability.

Imed Daïmi, a Brotherhood ally and its voice abroad, called for destabilizing the state by capitalizing on the open dispute between the UGTT and the government. He even urged the military and security institutions to intervene—a move that observers interpreted as a plot to destabilize the country in order to pave the way for a return to power.

Tunisian political analyst Mongi Essarrafi said: “The Muslim Brotherhood exploits any crisis as an opportunity to re-emerge and force its way into the events.”

He added: “Calling on the security and military institutions to intervene amounts to a call for a coup and a conspiracy against state security.”

He stressed that Imed Daïmi is the Brotherhood’s voice abroad, affiliated with former president Moncef Marzouki, a long-time ally of the Islamists. He recalled that Daïmi had announced in May the creation of an opposition front designed to enable the Ennahdha movement to return to Tunisia’s political arena.

An Attempted Coup

For his part, political analyst Abdelkrim Mahmoudi noted that Imed Daïmi had run in the 2024 presidential election and previously served both as a member of parliament and as chief of staff to Moncef Marzouki.

He said that Daïmi’s call for security and military intervention in the UGTT crisis represented “a direct incitement to rebellion and a blatant coup attempt.”

Mahmoudi added that despite the collapse of its popularity and its political demise, the Muslim Brotherhood continues to seek chaos as a way to undermine the security of the Tunisian state.

Regarding the UGTT’s standoff with the authorities, Mahmoudi explained that President Kais Saied aims to put an end to the union’s traditional interference in political affairs, but without escalating tensions.

Recently, the UGTT—the country’s largest labor organization—called through its branches in all 24 governorates and its sectoral unions for mass participation in a protest march on August 21, in line with a decision made by its administrative board last Monday.

On August 8, heavy security reinforcements were deployed around the UGTT headquarters in Tunis after dozens of protesters gathered in the wake of a transport strike that had paralyzed the capital on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of the previous week.

In a statement, the UGTT held the protesters responsible for attempting to storm its central headquarters in Tunis.

Responding to the incident, President Kais Saied declared: “The protesters had no intention of assaulting or storming the headquarters, contrary to the malicious rumors being spread.” He asked: “Do these people not realize that Tunisians now see through every detail?”

He added: “The timing of recent events is by no means a coincidence. The Tunisian people are determined to move forward despite these lies that no one believes.”