The President of Tunisia, Kais Saied, has rejected calls by the country’s opposition for a dialogue after dissolving the election commission and appointing a new one made up of his loyalists, with himself as thr chairman.

Saied had on April 22, replaced most of the members of the election commission, thus removing one more democratic check on the president, leading to worries about the legitimacy of any future elections.

With the political crisis in the North African country growing, Saied has remained adamant and has made several moves that critics say are designed to entrench him in power and appears increasingly unwilling to compromise.

On Thursday, the President rejected the formation of an opposition “National Salvation Front’, which has called for a national dialogue conference and a transitional government.

The opposition have also made several attempts to reach out to Saied to discuss the way forward but he told a gathering in Tunis on Wednesday that there was “no dialogue with those who want to target the Tunisian state”.

Saied had in the past, taken certain decisions which have further escalated the political crisis in the country which began after he sacked the government, suspended parliament, and took emergency powers nine months ago, actions that were labelled a “coup” by his opponents.

Saied has often argued that his moves were a fight against the corruption of Tunisia’s political elites, and a move from a parliamentary system, which he blames for the poor performance of the government in recent years, to a presidential system.

While Saied did receive a wide degree of popular support at the time, that has weakened following decisions that appear to reverse Tunisia’s path towards democracy following the 2011 revolution in the country.