Brahim Bouderbala was elected chairman of the Assembly of People's Representatives (APR, the lower house of parliament) of Tunisia, which met on Monday for its first meeting in its new composition. This was reported by the republic's national television.
Bouderbala, the former head of the Bar Association, was one of eight candidates for the presidency of the APR. After his election, he pledged to act "in the spirit of working together to meet the challenges at hand."
Saussen Mabrouk was elected first vice chairman of the APR and Anouar Marzouki was elected second vice chairman.
The first session of the renewed lower house of parliament was broadcast on the national television. It did not include representatives of the opposition, which boycotted the early elections held in two rounds in December 2022 and January 2023. It took place amid a sharp confrontation between President Kais Saied and opposition forces. Opponents accuse the head of state of seeking to form a political system that would increase his personal power.
The early elections in Tunisia were the result of a political crisis that began in the country in July 2021 at the height of the confrontation between the president and members of parliament, the leading force in which were moderate Islamists from the Ennahda party. In September of that year Saied announced a partial suspension of the constitution.
In March 2022, after an attempt by the deputies to cancel the exceptional measures and decrees of the head of state, he dissolved parliament. On July 25, in a referendum, 94.6% of voters (with a turnout of 27.5%) approved the new constitution, which gave the president full executive power, reducing the powers of the legislative and judicial branches.
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Based on materials from TASS