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| Africa North |
| Tunisian Islamists quit reform commission |
| 2011-06-27 |
| Rached Ghannouchi, the leader of Tunisia's Islamist movement Ennahda (Renaissance), has announced they have pulled out of a national commission tasked with making political reforms. Ghannouchi told a press conference that the commission "believes it has a popular legitimacy, when it hasn't," reproaching the panel for its "condescension." The reform panel was set up in February after the uprising that ousted president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, with a mission to pave the way for democratic change in the north African country. "Who are you to want to decide the essential laws for the people?" the Islamist Ghannouchi said the commission bore "the responsibility for the departure" of his movement, but did not completely rule out the possibility of a return. He said it was a "definitive withdrawal if the high instance continues to ignore the principle of a consensus. If reason prevails concerning a consensus we could study the option of returning." Apart from a dispute over an eventual election date, Ennahda disagreed with the panel over the means of financing political parties. The rules that the commission wants to establish are contested by the large political movements that have substantial resources and do not want to see them cut, according to observers. There is also a dispute over the inclusion in a "Republican Pact" that is intended to be the basis for a new Tunisian constitution of a clause banning any normalisation of relations with Israel. |
| Posted by:ryuge |