* Critics of the president say the new charter gives him too much power
* Analysts expect readers to back Constitution despite low turnout
* Most Tunisians are more concerned about economic issues
* Opposition parties boycott referendum
by Tarek Amara and Angus McDowall
TUNIS, July 25 (Reuters) – Tunisians are to vote in a referendum on Monday on a draft new constitution that would strengthen the powers of President Kas Saed.
The vote comes a year after Kas Saed froze the work of parliament, handing himself almost full power and ruling by decree ever since.
Tunisia’s divided opposition parties have called his move a coup that risks plunging Tunisia back into the pre-revolution autocratic era, and driving the final nail in the coffin of the “Arab Spring” uprisings. of 2011.
Analysts expect a “yes” vote with low turnout.
Although almost all the major political parties and civil society organizations have denounced a unilateral approach to the rewriting of the constitution and the legitimacy of the referendum, they have nevertheless not succeeded in forming a united front.
The disunity was visible during the demonstrations against Kas Saed which took place in recent days. The Islamist party Ennahda, the largest party in parliament, was present at a demonstration on Saturday. Civil society organizations and smaller parties staged a protest on Friday. A party supporting the pre-revolution regime held its own demonstration over the two days.
Of the three parliamentary elections and two presidential elections since the revolution, the lowest turnout, 41%, was recorded in 2019 for the chamber that Kas Saed dissolved.
A turnout on Monday well below that rate would further call into question the legitimacy of Kas Saed’s new constitution and his plan to overhaul Tunisian politics.
(Report Tarek Amara, rdig by Angus McDowall, French version Charlotte Lavin)