On Thursday, a Tunisian movement stressed its rejection of what it called the absence of political parties from the media scene in Tunisia, after an official decision banning the appearance of representatives of political currents on state television.
The People’s Movement Party said that the prime minister should “undo” the absence of “representatives of political parties” from state television programs since last July 25.
The People’s Movement is known for its support of President Kais Saied’s decisions in which he suspended Parliament and dissolved the elected government.
However, the movement said that it had “noted, in the period following July 25, 2021, the total absence of representatives of political parties in all of the television talk shows presented by National Television.”
The movement considered that this measure “contradicts the most basic elements of professional and media neutrality by a public service (official television) that belongs to all Tunisians.”
Earlier, the head of the Syndicate of Tunisian Journalists, Mohamed Yassin Al-Jelassi, said that there is a political decision that prevents party representatives from entering the state TV building and participating in its programs.
The Syndicate of Journalists described this decision as a setback for press freedom in the country.
It is noteworthy that Tunisian President Kais Saied accused the local media of falsification, distortion and talking about trivial issues.
Tunisia has been witnessing a worsening political crisis since last July 25, after Said took exceptional measures, most notably freezing the competencies of Parliament, lifting the immunity of its deputies, abolishing the constitutionality monitoring body, issuing legislation with presidential decrees, dismissing the prime minister and forming new ones.
The majority of political forces reject these decisions, and consider them a coup against the constitution and an infringement of rights and freedoms, while other forces support them and see them as a correction of the course of the 2011 revolution that toppled then-President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
The political crisis deepened after the president recently announced the organization of legislative elections according to a new electoral law at the end of this year.
