Tunisia out of club of democratic nations: Former minister

By Amena al-Yafrani

TUNIS, Tunisia (AA) - Tunisia has effectively left the club of democratic countries after the country's president assumed executive authority earlier this year, precipitating in a complicated political crisis, a former senior official said on Friday.

In an interview with Anadolu Agency, former Minister of Culture Mehdi Mabrouk said that the crisis has escalated and undermined the experience of the democratic transition in the North African country touted as the only nation that succeeded in doing so after the popular Arab Spring uprisings in 2011.

Since President Kais Saied ousted the government, suspended parliament, and assumed executive authority on July 25, the country has been in the grips of social a rift, said Mabrouk, who is also the director of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies in Tunisia.

"The decline in the level of freedoms in Tunisia," he argued, citing an "increase in the number of arrests, the trial of civilians before military courts, the suspension of the Constitution by the president, the harassment of the Supreme Judicial Council, the disruption of a number of national bodies, including the Anti-Corruption Authority, and the restrictions on demonstrations."

Turning to the involvement of the country's armed forces in politics, Mabrouk said: "Maybe we will need years to discover the truth of the matter, but all indications show that the military establishment has been pushed and forced to directly interfere in political affairs. The coup would not have taken place without its approval."

"We are not facing chaos or a clear military coup, but the president of the republic would not have gone to what he has gone to if there was no arrangement with the military establishment."

Accusing Saied of "deliberately ... referring to political issues in meetings in the military barracks," on several occasions, Mabrouk said this was unprecedented behavior for a president of Tunisia.

He called on the military to distance itself from political quarrels and to abide by the Constitution to guarantee the foundations of the country.

Mabrouk also warned against possible unwanted scenarios "such as street wars and civil wars, given the high cases of tension and the deterioration of social and economic conditions, unless reasoning, dialogue and a policy of extinguishing fires, are followed."

The majority of parties in Tunisia reject Saied's power grab, with some accusing him of orchestrating a coup against the Constitution. Others, however, defend Saied's decisions, pointing to the political, economic, and health crises that the country is facing.

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