Tunisia: Divisions ‘blow’ opposition over Saied project
Tunisian President Kais Saied’s plan to build a “new republic” is facing mounting opposition from across the political spectrum, but it is “heterogeneous, divided and divided”, analysts said.
Analysts attributed this to the policies of the Islamist movement Ennahdha in recent years.
Five political parties announced last Thursday that they will launch a campaign to topple the constitutional referendum scheduled for July 25th.
The parties leading the campaign are “Democratic Current, Workers’ Party, Democratic Modernist Pole, Republican, Ettakatol Party”.
“This campaign is not open to Ennahdha and the parties with the same constitutional authority”, said Hamma Hammami, secretary-general of the Workers’ Party. This is an explicit reference to the Parti destourien libre in the first place despite the popular weight of these two opposition parties, which shows a division and heterogeneity among the components of the opposition.
Political underclass
Former MP and political activist Sahabi Ben Faraj said, “The division of the opposition is strengthening President Kais Saied”.
“The entire political class is weakened by irrational alliances and division”, Ben Faraj said.
“This opposition was once united on the October 18 front (under the rule of late President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali), Kasbah 1 and Kasbah 2 (after the January 2011 revolution)”, he said.
He continued: “But when Ennahdha came to power, they disavowed their old allies, went into a purely ideological clash with them and tried to seize power”.
“The clashes that took place decades ago between opponents make it difficult to unite them today”, he said.
“These are still ongoing clashes that put Kais Saied on the path of public opinion in the absence of any political force capable of impeding him”, he said.
Ben Faraj added: “Even public opinion does not attach importance to the positions of the opposition parties, so Saeed will not back down under pressure from these fronts to keep their influence limited”.
Monopoly of power
“The opposition to Kais Saied’s decisions is expanding, which was not expected months after his coup”, said political analyst Boulbaba Salem.
Salem blamed the Tunisian president for taking sole responsibility for managing the country’s affairs, monopolizing the authorities and rejecting dialog to get out of the crisis.
“However, Saied still benefits from the dispersal of opposition groups among fronts, parties and organizations, while others continue to engage in opportunistic behavior between rejection and support”, he said.
“The opposition is expanding and this is important, and the president’s isolation is increasing internally”, he said. The National Salvation Front includes 10 components and other components may join it.
“The Social Front is a candidate to include other political factions, in addition to the General Union of Tunisian Workers’ refusal to participate in the dialog and escalation that started a while ago between the presidency and the Labor Union”, he said.
According to the political analyst, “If this opposition were united, it could impose its agenda, although Kais Saied never retracts”.
Scatter the opposition
Political analyst Mohammed Saleh al-Obaidi said, “The fragmentation suffered by the opposition makes it fragile and unable to impose its image and voice, especially in the presence of a president who does not recognize intermediate bodies, in turn, including parties, the media and others”.
Al-Obaidi explained that “the division is due in part to the intransigence of Ennahdha movement during its rule and the fact that it took escalatory stances with some opposition parties today”.
He continued: “Even the Union did not give up because it was attacked during the rule of the movement and its allies, and this division is justified”.
“Most of the political spectrum does not want to appear on Ennahdha’s side because a large part of the public views hold it responsible for the crises the country is now facing”, he said.
