The highly effective Tunisian federation rejects the December elections and assaults the president’s agenda
Tunisia’s highly effective labor union attacked the president’s political and financial agenda on Saturday, together with elections this month, saying it will now not settle for what it described as a risk to democracy in its clearest problem but.
The UGTT says it has greater than one million members and has confirmed its capability to paralyze the financial system with strikes. It has at occasions supported President Kais Saied after he seized many of the powers final yr, however on different events it has expressed tepid opposition.
“We now not settle for the present path due to its ambiguity, its particular person rule, and the disagreeable surprises it hides on the destiny of the nation and democracy,” stated Noureddine Taboubi, chief of the Tunisian Common Labor Union, in a speech to hundreds of his supporters.
“We is not going to hesitate to defend rights and freedoms, regardless of the worth,” he added, in his strongest criticism but of the president.
Saied shut down the elected parliament final yr and moved to energy by decree earlier than writing a brand new structure that was handed this summer time in a referendum with low turnout, prompting elections for a weak new legislature on December 17.
>> Tunisia Referendum: A victory for the sure vote and a failure for the revolution
A lot of the political events are boycotting the ballot, saying that the brand new Parliament may have no energy and the President’s flawed measures, which embrace inserting the Election Fee beneath his authority.
Taboubi stated the December elections “may have no colour and style” because of Saied’s structure and that the vote lacks a nationwide consensus.
The president’s critics have denounced his strikes as a coup and have staged frequent road protests. Stated says his actions have been obligatory to avoid wasting Tunisia.
Though the UGTT has beforehand expressed concern, it has not publicly opposed its agenda, apart from a strike in the summertime over wage and spending cuts.
This yr, because the financial system deteriorated, the brand new authorities appointed by Saied angered the UGTT by proposing to chop subsidies and restructure state-owned corporations in a bid to bail out the Worldwide Financial Fund wanted to keep away from nationwide chapter.
“We is not going to abide by the key agreements the federal government made with the Worldwide Financial Fund, and the employees will face it,” Taboubi stated.
(Reuters)
