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.
