Tunisia: An-Nahdha Warns Against Chaos and Authoritar?ianism
Statement
In the Name of God, Most Beneficent, Most Merciful
Our revolution is passing through one of its most critical phases, as our people prepare to hold the elections for a national constituent assembly, while dangers multiply threatening this national gain, through widening security failures and the rise of calls with ambiguous motives and aims for holding a referendum in parallel with the constituent assembly elections.
We, in an-Nahdha Movement, out of our responsibility towards our people and our revolution, announce:
Our condemnation of the acts of killing, vandalism, looting, violence and attacks on public and private properties, regardless of the perpetrators. We call on all to exercise self-control, desist from being incited to violence, and to place the country’s interest above all else. We also call on the Movement’s supporters and the people in general to protect citizens and public and private properties and facilities, and to coordinate with the army and the security forces to that end.
Our conviction that the election of a national constituent assembly with full prerogatives, which would complete its tasks in a period of up to one year, constitutes the most faithful expression of the popular will, the best protection for the revolution and its gains, a real confirmation of its success, and the embodiment of the people’s sovereignty and free will.
That the call for an ambiguous referendum in parallel with the elections is a distortion of the people’s demands, replacing them by narrow demands likely to de-stabilise the country, restrict the people’s will and its elected institutions, impose the guardianship of a minority on it, distort its revolution, threaten the democratic transition process and open the door for the unknown and the return of remnants of the old regime.
Our rejection of anything that undermines the country’s security and stability and any violation of the state’s institutions, and our fear that the activation of the state of emergency could be exploited to undermine public and personal freedoms and human rights.
That the speech of the interim Prime Minister Mr Beji Caid-Essebsi sent an unsettling and confusing message to the people, despite the positive insistence on the 23rd of October as the date for the elections of the national constituent assembly.
Our belief in the right of security services to choose representative committees that defend their members and protect their interests, providing that does not undermine their commitment to neutrality. Security services must distance themselves from conflicts, allowing them complete fulfillment of their task of protecting the state and society, and people’s lives, properties and honour, under the control of the political leadership in accordance with the country’s laws and higher interests.
An-Nahdha Movement
Chairman, Rached Ghannouchi