Tunisia party crisis deepens as lawmakers suspend membership

Thirty lawmakers from Tunisia's ruling Nidaa Tounes party suspended their membership Wednesday, deepening a crisis threatening to split the party and destabilise the government. The secularist Nidaa Tounes, elected to power last year in a vote hailed as democratic victory after Tunisia's Arab Spring revolt, has been riven by months of infighting.
Supporters of its secretary general, Mohsen Marzouk, accuse President Beji Caid Essebsi's son Hafedh of trying to seize control of the party. The crisis has come to a head after accusations that Essebsi supporters armed with sticks on Sunday blocked rival party members from a meeting of its executive committee. On Wednesday, pro-Marzouk lawmakers among the party's 86 parliamentarians said they were suspending their membership at least until a November 12 meeting of the party's executive committee.