Tunisia’s Ghannouchi says parliament in session, defying Saied

Rached Ghannouchi from Ennahdha party urged lawmakers to resume work in defiance of parliament freeze by the president.

Tunisia’s parliament Speaker Rached Ghannouchi has declared the assembly in session, urging lawmakers to resume work, defying President Kais Saied’s suspension of the assembly in a new escalation of the country’s political crisis.

Ghannouchi’s declaration on Friday looks set to deepen a dispute over the legitimacy of Saied’s seizure of control of most legislative and executive powers in July, a move the president’s opponents called a coup.

“The office of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People is in permanent session,” Ghannouchi, head of the moderate Islamist Ennahdha party, said in a tweet.