Tunisian parties vow to fight president's 'autocratic rule'

FILE PHOTO: Tunisian then-presidential candidate Kais Saied speaks during an interview with Reuters in Tunis, Tunisia September 17, 2019. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed/File Photo

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's political parties pledged to fight President Kais Saied's decision to exclude them from key political reforms including the drafting of a new constitution, accusing him of seeking to consolidate autocratic rule.

Saied, who took executive power last summer and dissolved parliament to rule by decree, has since said he will replace the democratic 2014 constitution with a new constitution via a July 25 referendum and hold new parliamentary elections in December.