Cairo: Tunisia’s ruling Nida Tunis party is facing collapse after a group of lawmakers quit amid mounting tensions over who will succeed its leader, President Beji Qaid Al Sebsi.
Thirty-two lawmakers loyal to Nida Tunis Secretary-General Mohsen Marzouq took the decision after a meeting on Sunday, senior party member Bushra Bel Haj Hamida said in a phone interview. In a statement last week, they accused Al Sebsi’s son Hafedh of attempting a hereditary transfer of power, a charge he denies, and threatened to resign if no way forward was found.
The dispute comes as Tunisia, often described as the Arab Spring’s sole success story, grapples with an economic crisis that worsened after two deadly militant attacks this year crippled its tourism industry. While Nida Tunis won the most seats in October elections and the right to form a government, its division now means the moderate Islamist Al Nahda party has the biggest representation in the 217-seat assembly.
Al Sebsi, 88, and Marzouq represent rival factions in Tunisian politics. The president is viewed by many as a member of the old guard, having served as foreign minister in the 1980s and as parliament speaker in the 1990s under ousted President Zine Al Abidine Bin Ali, while Marzouq is a former leftist activist.
Mass demonstrations against the rule of long-standing Tunisian autocrat Zine Al Abidine Bin Ali at the end of 2010 touched off the Arab Spring across North Africa and the Middle East the following year. Though Tunisia has escaped much of the violence that has since engulfed neighbouring nations, there were two major terrorist attacks this year on a tourist resort in Sousse and the Bardo Museum in Tunis.
