Defectors from Tunisia’s Ennahda Seek to Form New Party

President Kais Saied presides over the first government meeting headed by Najla Bouden. (AFP)
President Kais Saied presides over the first government meeting headed by Najla Bouden. (AFP)
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Defectors from Tunisia’s Ennahda Seek to Form New Party

President Kais Saied presides over the first government meeting headed by Najla Bouden. (AFP)
President Kais Saied presides over the first government meeting headed by Najla Bouden. (AFP)

Dozens of figures, who resigned from the Ennahda movement, are preparing to establish a new political party, said Tunisian political sources.

The new party is expected to meet some of Ennahda’s intellectual and ideological views. However, according to the sources, it will not adopt the same strategy in dealing with politics and social organizations.

The new party will be “a middle ground” for everyone who believes in the identity of the “Arab Islamic Tunisian people.”

Abdelfattah Mourou, a former leading member of Ennahda, will chair the new party. The leadership will also include Abdellatif Mekki, Mohamed Ben Salem, Samir Dilou, and several lawmakers of the suspended parliament.

Several officials resigned from the Ennahda movement, headed by parliament Speaker Rached al-Ghannouchi, in protest against the leadership’s actions and stances.

They slammed the party for its lack of internal reforms and warned that the wrong choices led to the leadership’s isolation and failure to engage in any common front to confront President Kais Saied’s recent extraordinary measures.

Earlier this year, Saied invoked emergency powers under Article 80 of the constitution to sack Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, freeze parliament, lift the immunity of parliament members and make himself prosecutor general.

Secretary-General of the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT) said that “there will be no return to autocracy” in reference to the expected political reforms being arranged by the presidency.

Speaking to the press during the “African Continental Free Trade Agreement,” Noureddine Taboubi underscored the demands for the formation of a political system that is not based on single rule, rejecting attempts to establish an autocracy.

Taboubi acknowledged disagreements with the presidency, noting: “We want a balanced government based on oversight, accountability, constitutional institutions and the rule of law.”



Syria’s Al-Sharaa Says No to Arms Outside State Control

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
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Syria’s Al-Sharaa Says No to Arms Outside State Control

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)
Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa (C) arrives for a meeing with visiting Druze officials from Lebanon's Progressive Socialist Party (PSP) in Damascus on December 22, 2024. (Photo by AFP)

Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa said his administration would announce the new structure of the defense ministry and military within days.

In a joint press conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday, al-Sharaa said that his administration would not allow for arms outside the control of the state.

An official source told Reuters on Saturday that Murhaf Abu Qasra, a leading figure in the insurgency that toppled Bashar al-Assad two weeks ago, had been named as defense minister in the interim government.
Sharaa did not mention the appointment of a new defense minister on Sunday.
Sharaa discussed the form military institutions would take during a meeting with armed factions on Saturday, state news agency SANA said.
Prime Minister Mohammed al-Bashir said last week that the defense ministry would be restructured using former opposition factions and officers who defected from Assad's army.

Earlier Sunday, Lebanon’s Druze leader Walid Jumblatt held talks with al-Sharaa in Damascus.

Jumblatt expressed hope that Lebanese-Syrian relations “will return to normal.”

“Syria was a source of concern and disturbance, and its interference in Lebanese affairs was negative,” al-Sharaa said, referring to the Assad government. “Syria will no longer be a case of negative interference in Lebanon," he added.