Ennahda calls for convening postponed party congress to counter Tunisian parliament

Sarah Rashad

At a time when the majority of the elements of the Ennahda movement, the Brotherhood’s wing in Tunisia, are in prisons, including their leader, Rached Ghannouchi, the temporary leadership of the movement finds itself bound by the date of the party’s eleventh congress scheduled for October.

Inevitable to convene

Ennahda’s temporary leadership finds no escape from holding its eleventh general congress at its expected date, as its acting president, Mondher Ounissi, confirmed in previous press statements that the congress will be held before the end of this year. At the same time, he revealed in recent media statements that the congress will witness the election of a new executive office apart from those imprisoned, hinting at the possibility of his own candidacy for the position of head of the movement.

The anticipated congress, which has been postponed since May 2020, is considered one of the most important obstacles facing the movement’s temporary leadership in the absence of its historical leaders. Ounissi recently confirmed that the biggest discussion within Ennahda is the organization of the congress, which has become required nationally, locally, and perhaps even regionally and internationally, according to his estimates.

The movement was scheduled to hold the postponed congress in June, but the arrest of Ghannouchi and other leaders of the movement prevented that, in addition to the confiscation of the movement’s headquarters.

Terrorism indictment

The coincidence between a petition gathered by the Tunisian parliament to classify Ennahda as a terrorist group and the reopening of the debate about the movement’s eleventh congress is an indication of the movement’s attempts to preempt any official decision against it.

Observers expect that the Tunisian authorities, led by Tunisian President Kais Saied, will consider the opening of the file of the congress that has been postponed for more than three years as a provocative step by Ennahda and then call for an escalation against it, at a time when the current interim leadership’s ability to cope is not being tested.

Those of the second reading support that Ennahda should be based on reading its previous choices and what it has reached instead of going to its eleventh congress.

Sarah Brahmi, the daughter of assassinated Tunisian politician Mohamed Brahmi, whom Ennahda was accused of killing in 2013, told the Reference that Ennahda is prepared to do anything to return to power, noting that the movement is taking every opportunity to do so.

She expected the movement to continue despite the Tunisian state’s attempts to pursue it.

The eleventh congress was postponed more than once, as it was expected to take place at the end of 2020, had it not been for the situation that Tunisia experienced against the background of the Covid-19 pandemic, as indicated by Ennahda’s statement in November 2020.

Explaining the reasons for postponing the congress, analysts recalled the differences that the movement has experienced since mid-2020 against the background of Ghannouchi’s desire to run for a third term, in disagreement with Article 31 of the movement’s bylaws.

Against the backdrop of Ghannouchi’s intention to run, the movement witnessed splits in its ranks, coinciding with conflicts it was experiencing with the Tunisian administration, which ended in the decisions of July 25, 2022, and the movement’s overthrow by President Saied.