Tunisian Lawmakers Sign Petition to Unseat the Speaker


Tunisia's elected president Kais Saied speaks during his swearing-in ceremony at the Assembly of People's Representatives in Tunis (File photo: Reuters)
Tunisia's elected president Kais Saied speaks during his swearing-in ceremony at the Assembly of People's Representatives in Tunis (File photo: Reuters)
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Tunisian Lawmakers Sign Petition to Unseat the Speaker


Tunisia's elected president Kais Saied speaks during his swearing-in ceremony at the Assembly of People's Representatives in Tunis (File photo: Reuters)
Tunisia's elected president Kais Saied speaks during his swearing-in ceremony at the Assembly of People's Representatives in Tunis (File photo: Reuters)

Some 76 Tunisian lawmakers signed a petition seeking to unseat Speaker and head of Islamist Ennahda movement Rached Ghannouchi.

The representatives belong to major parliamentary blocs, including the National Reform Bloc, the Democratic Current, the People's Movement, the Heart of Tunisia party, and 13 independents.

The 76 signatures are sufficient to start the procedures for withdrawing confidence from the Speaker, and 109 votes to unseat him.

President Kais Saied met with ten deputies from across the political spectrum, including representatives from Ennahda, Tahya Tounes, Democratic Current, the People’s movement, and the independents.

Observers interpreted the meeting as the President's attempt to back down from his previous position rejecting the cabinet reshuffle.

Saied toured this week several of the capital’s neighborhoods to prove that he is “the president of all Tunisians and is not afraid to confront the people.”

The President is trying to win back the people's support after a slight decline in popularity following the incident of the “poisoned envelope,” when a suspicious package arrived at Carthage Palace.

Observers believe the President’s meeting with a number of lawmakers may be an indication that he accepts negotiations to end the constitutional crisis.

Last month, parliament approved a cabinet reshuffle put forward by Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi with 11 new ministers, which was rejected by Saied saying four of them were believed to be involved in corruption cases.

A top official of Heart of Tunisia Iyadh Elloumi called for the initiation of procedures to dismiss the President, accusing him of “grossly violating the constitution” in his refusal to hold the constitutional oath for the new ministers.

Elloumi indicated that Saied created the current crisis in a populist move to win voters over after a decline in his popularity in the recent survey, accusing him of paralyzing state institutions by not activating a constitutional procedure.

In an attempt to end the crisis, the Prime Minister held a meeting with a number of law experts and professors, seeking their advice regarding the constitutional crisis resulting from the cabinet reshuffle, and the President’s rejection to swear them in.

Mechichi requested the consultation of the administrative court, which, according to observers, exacerbated the deep disagreement between the two heads of the executive authority.



Israeli Cabinet Approves Expansion of Gaza Offensive

Israeli soldiers walk in the grounds of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, one of the kibbutzim attacked by Palestinian Hamas group earlier this month, close to the southern Israeli border with the Gaza Strip on October 27, 2023. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)
Israeli soldiers walk in the grounds of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, one of the kibbutzim attacked by Palestinian Hamas group earlier this month, close to the southern Israeli border with the Gaza Strip on October 27, 2023. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)
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Israeli Cabinet Approves Expansion of Gaza Offensive

Israeli soldiers walk in the grounds of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, one of the kibbutzim attacked by Palestinian Hamas group earlier this month, close to the southern Israeli border with the Gaza Strip on October 27, 2023. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)
Israeli soldiers walk in the grounds of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, one of the kibbutzim attacked by Palestinian Hamas group earlier this month, close to the southern Israeli border with the Gaza Strip on October 27, 2023. (Photo by FADEL SENNA / AFP)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet has approved a gradual expansion of the offensive against Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza, Israeli public broadcaster Kan reported on Monday, citing sources with knowledge of the details.

The Israeli military has already begun issuing tens of thousands of call-up orders for its reserve forces, looking to expand the Gaza campaign, army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir said in a statement on Sunday.

In a video message posted on X on Sunday, hours after part of a missile launched from Yemen by the Iranian-backed Houthi militia fell close to Israel's main gateway, Ben Gurion Airport, Netanyahu said he was convening the security cabinet to discuss "the next stage" of the war in Gaza.

"We are increasing the pressure with the goal of returning our people (hostages) and defeating Hamas," Zamir told troops, according to the statement from the army.

Israel resumed ground operations in Gaza in March after the collapse of a US-backed ceasefire that had halted fighting for two months, Reuters said.

The security cabinet also approved a new plan for aid distribution in Gaza, Israel’s Ynet news website reported on Monday, though it was unclear when supplies would be let in to the enclave.

Israel is in control of around a third of Gaza's territory and has faced growing international pressure to lift an aid blockade that it imposed in March.

Israel has defended the blockade by saying that Hamas has seized aid intended for civilians and kept it for its own fighters or sold it, charges that Hamas has denied.

Israel launched its campaign in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas attack on Oct 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies, and saw 251 taken hostage into Gaza in the deadliest day for Israel in its history.

The campaign has killed more than 52,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities and devastated the Gaza Strip, leaving its 2.3 million population depending on aid supplies that have been dwindling rapidly since the blockade.