Is Tunisia Following the Steps of Egypt?

As tensions rose in Egypt after the army overthrew President Mohammad Mursi, protests have emerged in Tunisia, where a group has gathered 200,000 signatures in opposition to the government and plans to take to the streets.

The spokesman of Tunisia’s movement Tamarod, Arabic for rebellion, Mohamed Bennour presented on Wednesday, in an interview broadcast on radio Mosaique FM, the main objectives of this movement.

“Tunisia’s Tamarod seeks to dissolve the National Constituent Assembly which has lost its legitimacy”, he said, “It also aspires to scrapping the hijacked constitution.” Bennour noted that political Islam is totally doomed, in reference to the ruling Islamist party Ennahda.

He said, “The movement is calling for the formation of a commission of legal experts who will be entrusted with the drafting of a new constitution that guarantees rights and freedoms for all Tunisians.”

However, Rached Ghannouchi, who heads Tunisia’s ruling Ennahda party close to the Muslim Brotherhood, ruled out a similar scenario in his country following the ouster of Mursi.

In remarks published on Thursday, Ghannouchi told Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat that some “young dreamers may think that they can repeat in Tunisia what happened in Egypt, but their efforts would be wasted, situation in Tunisia is different from that in Egypt.”

“We have taken a serious strategy based on consensus especially between the Islamist and

“Our national army is outside of politics,” unlike in “Egypt which has been ruled by the military for 60 years,” he said.

Prime Minister Ali Larayedh of the Islamist-led government in Tunis had earlier said that a situation like the one unfolding in Egypt is unlikely to happen in Tunisia.

“Our approach is characterized by consensus and partnership,” said Larayedh, who is also a senior leader of the Ennahda party.

“The possibility of an Egypt scenario is unlikely in Tunisia because I have great confidence in the awareness of Tunisians and their ability to measure the potential of their country,” Larayedh said in an interview on France 24.