(TAP) - President of the Ennahdha movement, Rached Ghannouchi, on Sunday, announced the party’s decision to boycott the July 25, 2022 referendum and the December 17 parliamentary elections.

Speaking to reporters before the start of a meeting held in Sfax, on the 41st anniversary of the founding of the movement, Ghannouchi added that “efforts continue with the partners of Ennahdha to thwart the coup and cancel all resulting decree-laws,” thanks to the will of the people.

"The main mission today is to get Tunisia out of the situation of the coup and restore the Constitution and the rule of law and institutions,” he pointed out.

Rached Ghannouchi said the recent charge against the judiciary by the head of state is a violation of the rule of law, aimed at laying the foundations for a dictatorship.

“Undermining the independence of the judiciary aims to sabotage the Ennahdha movement, exclude it from the political arena and classify it in the category of terrorism and corruption, after failing to defeat it politically,” he said.

Local citizens observed a protest rally in front of the headquarters that hosted the meeting of Ennahdha, to express their refusal of Ghannouchi’s visit in Sfax, considering he “is the cause of the black dark experienced by the country.”

Some even considered "the meetings recently held by the movement in all regions of the country, under the pretext of celebrating the 41st anniversary of its creation, as meant to disrupt the smooth holding of the July 25 referendum.