TUNIS: A Tunisian court ordered the former ruling RCD party to be dissolved Wednesday, consigning a key pillar of toppled president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's 23-year regime to the scrapheap. The Rally for Constitutional Democracy (RCD) had already been suspended from official duties in February after Ben Ali fled on Jan. 14 at the height of a popular uprising to overthrow his regime. The court “has decided to dissolve the Rally for Constitutional Democracy and to liquidate its assets and funds,” the ruling said, triggering a burst of applause in a court room filled with hundreds of people. Some in the crowd broke into the national anthem as others shouted “RCD go away!”, “Free Tunisia!” and “Martyrs, we are continuing the struggle”, a reference to the scores killed in the weeks-long revolt that toppled Ben Ali. There had been fears the party, which claimed a membership of two million people out of a population of 12 million, would attempt to stage a comeback at the ballot box. Demands for its dissolution, as well as the removal of holdovers from the Ben Ali regime in new interim authority, had been a focus of demonstrations that continued after the ageing ruler fled. The court case against the RCD was lodged by the Interior Ministry which accused the party of violating the constitution to set up a one-party “totalitarian regime” under Ben Ali. – Agence France
