TUNIS (Reuters) – Tunisia’s new parliament, elected in December and January in a vote with a turnout of 11%, was unveiled for the first time on Monday in a session closed to all but the media the state and with the opposition coalition says that it will not recognize its legitimacy.
Journalists were not allowed to attend the opening session of parliament for the first time since the 2011 revolution. Officials told reporters on Monday that only state TV and radio and the state news agency were allowed to cover the event.
President Kais Saied dissolved the previously elected parliament in July 2021, moving to rule by decree in a move that opposition parties called a coup. He said that his actions were legal and necessary to save Tunisia from years of crisis.
The new parliament, which operates under a constitution that Saied wrote last year and passed in a referendum with a 30% turnout, will have very little power compared to the body it replaces.
Since most parties boycotted the election, and candidates were listed on the ballot papers without party affiliation, most of the new members of parliament are political independents.
The National Salvation Front, the main opposition coalition that includes Tunisia’s largest party, the Islamist Ennahda and activists, said in a statement on Monday that it would not recognize a parliament that emerged from a coup. state after elections that were boycotted by the majority.
(Reporting by Tarek Amara; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
