Majority for new constitution: Tunisia’s president is becoming more powerful

Majority for new constitution
Tunisia’s president is becoming more powerful

Tunisia’s President Saied recently ruled primarily by decree, which will no longer be necessary in the future. In a referendum, a large majority votes in favor of a controversial draft constitution that gives the president even more powers. However, turnout is low – as is the hope of many Tunisians who are currently fleeing to Europe in droves.

In Tunisia, a large majority of voters voted in a referendum for a new constitution and thus for a significant increase in power for the president. The approval rate was 94.6 percent, said the electoral authority at night. Although less than a third of those entitled to vote took part in the referendum on Monday, the constitution can come into force. It no longer provides for an authority that could control the president or even remove him from office.

Head of state Kais Saied is expanding his power at the expense of parliament and the judiciary. In the future, he will be able to appoint and dismiss the government and judges, for example, without Parliament having to agree to this. He should also be able to dissolve the parliament. The constitution should come into force automatically when the official results are announced.

Saied has already announced that he intends to change the electoral law as well. So far, the President has enforced many far-reaching decisions by decree, thereby circumventing the previous constitution. It was introduced in 2014 and curtailed the president’s powers in favor of parliament and the head of government.

The introduction of the new constitution is part of a political transformation of the country driven by Saied, which also includes general elections later in the year. A year before the referendum, Saied deposed the then head of government and forced parliament to suspend its work. Later he dissolved the parliament altogether.

Critics fear a return to dictatorship

Saied had previously engaged in a month-long power struggle with the conservative Islamic party Ennahda, which he significantly weakened with the move. The Islamists, who are considered comparatively moderate, were the strongest force in parliament and condemned Saied’s controversial measures as a “coup d’état”. However, they have clearly lost popularity among the general public. The party is widely regarded as corrupt, and the record of its parliamentary work as disappointing.

The Arab uprisings began in Tunisia in 2010. At that time, several countries in the Arab world brought their long-term autocratic rulers to their knees. But Tunisia was the only country in the region that managed to transition to democracy. Critics accuse Saied of wanting to return Tunisia to a dictatorship. The country is divided between supporters and opponents of the president. There have been repeated protests on both sides for months.

The opposition called for a boycott of the referendum and criticized the entire process as illegitimate. The referendum was also seen as a vote on Saied’s leadership so far. Polls had previously pointed to a low turnout of the more than nine million Tunisians called to vote. Many Tunisians have more urgent concerns than a referendum on the country’s political leadership. Many of them are poorer today than they were in the days of long-time ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who was ousted from office by mass protests in 2011.

Many want to leave the country

There is great doubt that democracy as a form of government is suitable for overcoming the economic crisis. With MPs historically more concerned with bickering than much-needed reforms, many are hoping for a strong president to address the issues. However, Saied’s policies have done little to improve the situation. Whether the support for him will last remains questionable. It is estimated that around 20,000 people have left the country for Europe since Saied’s political transformation began, most of them by boat across the Mediterranean. According to the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights, Tunisians now make up the largest group of all migrants arriving in Italy.

The new constitution states that Tunisia is part of the “Islamic community” and that the state strives within the framework of the democratic system to implement the goals, which include the protection of life. Some observers see this as a strategic measure by the head of state Saied, who is considered to be secular, in order to also appeal to the supporters of the Ennahda party. However, it is not clear what exactly the vague paragraph means in practice. Turning away from the democratic transition in Tunisia would undo hard-earned progress – especially compared to other countries in the region, where the so-called Arab Spring had little lasting impact.

In neighboring Libya, for example, the ruler Muammar al-Gaddafi was arrested and killed during a military operation in 2011. The country then plunged into civil war, and after a two-year ceasefire, new violence is now flaring up again. In Egypt, the democratic upheaval following the fall of long-term President Hosni Mubarak remained just an experiment. A military coup followed the victory of Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood in the summer of 2013. With President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, an army chief came to the top, about whom critics say he oppresses his people with even worse methods than in Mubarak’s time.

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