The Secretary-General of the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT), Noureddine Taboubi, said that “the online consultation launched by President Kais Saied is not effective and cannot replace dialogue.”
Taboubi stated, “We think there is still room to buy time in this direction (achieve dialogue). Our country must get out of this situation in which it finds itself and we have the capacity to get out of it on condition of showing real national solidarity.”
“Everyone must do their mea-culpa and refrain from launching slanders or profaning insults in the interest of our country because saving the homeland is a concrete practice and not hollow slogans,” Taboubi affirmed.
On the other hand, the UGTT said that “Setting an election date is a vital step toward ending the exceptional circumstance, but it does not break with individual rule and exclusion,” in its first reaction to the president’s plan on Tuesday.
An online popular consultation was launched on an experimental basis on Saturday and will officially begin in mid-January, to collect Tunisians’ suggestions and opinions on political, social, economic, and cultural issues.
The UGTT, which represents one million workers and earned the Nobel Peace Prize in 2015 as part of the National Dialogue Quartet, claimed the online consultation may lead to a monopoly of power and the annihilation of the opposition.
President Saied had presented a road map last month to end the country’s political crisis, which has paralyzed the country since he suspended parliament, sacked the prime minister, and acquired executive power last year.
