4 Tunisian parties say president lost legitimacy

TUNIS, Tunisia

Four Tunisian parties said Thursday that the country’s President Kais Saied has lost his legitimacy.

The Democratic Current Party, Afek Tounes Party, the Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties Party and the Republican Party said in a joint statement that they will form a “civil political front” to confront what they called a “coup”.

On Wednesday, Saied said he will rule by decree and will abolish the body established in 2014 to monitor the constitutionality of laws. The Presidency and the official gazette also published a decree allowing the Tunisian president to exercise legislative power.

The four parties decried Saied's moves as “a violation of legitimacy and a coup against the constitution”. They held the president responsible for the repercussions of his measures that enshrined an absolute power monopoly.

On July 25, Saied ousted the government, suspended parliament and assumed executive authority. While he insists that his exceptional measures are meant to "save" the country, his critics accuse him of orchestrating a coup.

Tunisia has been seen as the only country that succeeded in carrying out a democratic transition among Arab countries which witnessed popular revolutions toppling ruling regimes, including Egypt, Libya and Yemen.

Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara