The main party in power in Tunisia, Ennahdha, mobilized thousands of supporters this Saturday, a show of force that risks accentuating the tensions in the midst of a standoff between this Islamist-inspired formation and the head of state.
This demonstration, one of the most important in recent years, comes as the social crisis accentuated by the coronavirus pandemic is coupled with growing budgetary difficulties.
Some public companies are struggling to pay salaries, and donors are worried about the Tunisian debt rising.
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The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned in a press release this Saturday on the urgency of reforms to reduce the deficit.
He called for reducing the public wage bill and energy subsidies, stressing that "
public debt would become unsustainable unless a solid reform program is adopted
."
President Kais Saied, an independent conservative who enjoys significant popularity, rejected at the end of January a reshuffle wanted by Ennahdha to assure the government the support of his parliamentary coalition.
The two camps focus on the interpretation of the Constitution and the prerogatives of each in this semi-parliamentary system.
In the absence of a Constitutional Court, the conflict dragged on, paralyzing the government for six weeks.
National dialogue
"
The people want national unity
," chanted supporters of Ennahdha, waving flags in central Tunis.
The leader of Ennahdha, Rached Ghannouchi, took the floor to call for a dialogue between "
all political forces
" and to defend the Parliament and the institutions of democracy.
“
It is not for the president to decide on his own who can govern or not!
», Told AFP Mohamed Khlif, who came from Sfax (east) despite the travel restrictions in force due to the pandemic.
The demonstrators came from all over the country, some specifying that they had arrived by car, others by bus, and more than a hundred chartered buses to transport them were parked on the outskirts of the city center.
"
Power struggles
"
Ennahdha - who has dominated the political scene since 2011 but has seen its electoral base erode until it controls only a quarter of Parliament - “
has shown that it is still capable of mobilizing in numbers
”, believes political scientist Youssef Cherif.
This mobilization "
makes it possible to arrive at the negotiating table with this visible support
", but it risks complicating any dialogue, he adds.
Party leaders have "
gained confidence
" in the face of a president hostile to any compromise.
Ennahdha has also reaffirmed himself in the face of a weakened left but one of which marched against the government on Saturday, and in the face of the anti-Islamists of the Free Destourien Party (PDL).
This formation, which is gaining ground, orchestrated a popular rally a week ago in Sousse (east).
But this show of force remains controversial even within Ennahdha, especially as the incessant power struggles contribute to discrediting the political class.
Tunisia's sovereign rating drops
The standoff risks bringing down the government of Hichem Mechichi, say political leaders, while the Prime Minister laboriously came to power 6 months ago.
He took over from a government that had lasted only a few months.
The political disputes that have hampered fundamental reforms since the 2011 revolution have intensified since the coming to power in 2019 of a fragmented and deeply divided Parliament.
This "
weakening of governance
" prompted the rating agency Moodys to downgrade Tunisia's sovereign debt rating this week, complicating its access to borrowing when the country has not completed its 2021 budget.
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Hichem Mechichi, who had sacked 11 ministers including that of Health and the Interior, ended up entrusting these ministries to other members of the government already in place.
"
In these moments of crisis, there is a need for dialogue, and currently there is none, only interactive monologues
," said MP Ennahdha Samir Dilou.
Tunisia "
does not have the means to have at the same time a political crisis, a socio-economic crisis and the risk of a security crisis
", he added.
The powerful UGTT union called for a national dialogue, a call that has remained a dead letter until then.
