Two leaders from Ennahda Movement, the Islamic party participating in the coalition in Tunisia, have tendered their resignation on Thursday to head of the party Rashid al-Ghannouchi who accepted it and appointed other members in their place.
The resignation was due to personal reasons, according to the movement. Yet according to observers of the political affairs, this resignation might be a result of internal conflicts related to the municipal elections.
In a concise statement, Ennahda Movement announced approving the resignation of Mohammad al-Qalawi and Jamal al-Awi and appointing Badreddine Abdelkafi and
Imed Khemiri instead.
The period of submitting nominations witnessed several resignations due to pressures exerted on the movements by its supporters. Ennahda Movement dedicated half of the nominations to independent qualifications, which made a huge number of movement supporters lose the opportunity to be present in the political scene.
Political analyst Jamal al-Arfaoui stated to Asharq Al-Awsat that this new resignation indicates that there are internal conflicts inside Ennahda.
Ennahda Movement witnessed public conflicts among political leaders during its ruling term between 2011 and 2013, which resulted in the resignation of
Hamadi Jebali, former head of Government of Tunisia, from his sectary general position in Ennahda. Further, Riadh Chaibi seceded from the movement and established Binaa Al Watani Party.
As for the Jewish candidate running for elections in one of Monastir municipalities, Ennahda leader Abdelhamid Jlassi said that the movement differentiates between Judaism and Zionism, and is seeking to integrate Jews in the public life.
On terms of the number of electoral lists, Ennahda came first with 329 lists, followed by Nidaa Tounes with 321 lists. The Independent High Authority for Elections determined March the 3rd as the deadline to announce lists of the municipal elections’ candidates.
