On Sunday, thousands of Tunisians marched to the streets in the capital, Tunis, to protest President Kais Saied’s political actions and rising food costs.
One of the protest organisers, a coordinator from the Citizens Against the Coup alliance, told the state TV that the country’s “new constitution” was “written up unilaterally” by Saied.
Protests will continue in the form of sit-ins, marches, and hunger strikes, according to Ali al-Arid of the Ennahda Movement.
Reports say the demonstrators gathered on a key Tunis road, chanting “Leave”.
Images of crowds waving Tunisian flags and loaves of bread, implying that food costs are rising also surfaced online.
Since suspending parliament last year, Saied has pushed through a series of steps that have expanded his authority and dismantled political institutions.
He unveiled a plan for a “new republic” in Tunisia earlier this month, which would be submitted to a referendum on July 25.
Kais Saied is also accused by critics of attempting to suppress dissent. He dissolved parliament and assumed executive powers last year.
After gaining executive power last summer, Saied had already abolished parliament and taken control of the judiciary, declaring that he could rule by decree, which his critics call a coup.
Saied, who claims his actions were lawful and necessary to preserve Tunisia from a catastrophe, is rewriting Tunisia’s democratic constitution, which was enacted following the 2011 revolution, and plans to put it to a referendum in July.
Few Months ago, he said he would change the majority of electoral commission members, seizing control of one of the country’s last independent authorities.
Last week, he however named new members of the election commission on Monday, led by Farouk Bouasker.