(TAP) – Spokesman and MP of Nidaa Tounes Mongi Harbaoui denied Saturday evening in a statement to TAP that the members of the party's parliamentary bloc that convened on Saturday had requested the replacement of the executive director of Nidaa Tounes Hafedh Caid Essebsi as well as the current leadership.

"Fatma Mseddi's statement to TAP summarises her personal position and does not represent the position of all members of the parliamentary bloc," Harbaoui said.

He said that the deputies asked at this meeting to "accelerate the work of the committee for the preparation and organisation of the congress, to close ranks and stop the haemorrhage of resignations", saying that "MPs have made a moral commitment not to resign in the future ".

MP Fatma Mseddi, member of Nidaa Tounes' group, had told TAP that “the deputies present at the Nidaa Tounes parliamentary group meeting, held on Saturday at the Bardo Palace, were "unanimous in stressing the need to change the current leadership of the party, especially Hafedh Caid Essebsi".

"All the deputies present blame the crisis within the party for the current leadership and reject any monopoly of the decision within Nidaa Tounes," she added.

She said that the deputies also called for a meeting of the political party authority which will in turn invite the enlarged executive board to hold a meeting as soon as possible in order to take the necessary steps to redress the situation within the movement.

According to the MP, it is the president of the parliamentary group of Nidaa Tounes, Sofiene Toubel, who is the first responsible for the recent resignations within the parliamentary group.

Saturday's meeting, which lasted more than three hours, was not sanctioned by a statement, she said. "Some MPs have proposed to publish a statement after the interview with President Beji Caid Essebsi, scheduled early next week".

The party and the parliamentary group of Nidaa Tounes experienced, during the last period, a wave of resignations.

On Friday, four other MPs (Ismail Ben Mahmoud, Lotfi Ali, Abir Abdelli and Sana Salhi) resigned from the group of Nidaa Tounes. They are in addition to the nine members who left the parliamentary bloc in early September.