Tunisia approves new constitution

Almost a year after Tunisian President Kais Saied suspended parliament and assumed full powers under the pretext of "saving the country" after the multiple crises it was - and still is - going through, Tunisians have approved the constitutional reform project, supported by the president himself, following a new referendum.

According to polls, 27.54% of the more than nine million Tunisians are said to have participated in the referendum. Of this figure, 92.3% of voters voted in favour of the new bill, with almost no dissenting votes. The opposition, grouped in a political majority, reportedly tried to boycott the referendum because they accuse the constitutional project, supported by Saied, of "not having a democratic basis". 

According to sources in the country, this new constitution would not ensure the separation of powers and would be strongly marked by the figure of Saied, for which many have labelled it as "ultra-presidentialist". Furthermore, this draft differs from the 2014 Constitution in that it does not stipulate any mechanism for the president to be dismissed. Instead, the president would have the full power to dissolve the chambers at his discretion.

Although the office of the president will continue to be elected through the ballot box, the president will be the one to dictate the electoral law that will govern the next legislative elections scheduled for 17 December. 

Regarding the influence that Islam will have in the country, the new constitution does not define Tunisia as a 'Muslim country', which is evidence of the rejection of the Ennahda party, although it does consider it as part of the umma and places the responsibility on the country to achieve the 'objectives of Islam', requiring the president to profess this religion. Even so, the fact that it is no longer necessarily considered a Muslim country marks a turning point in the country's history. 

The vast majority of political parties have rejected the last legislative elections, as well as the process of drafting the new constitution. This situation, further marked by a lack of confidence in the Electoral Board following the replacement of its members, has led to a broad political majority, with the exception of a few far-left and pan-Arab parties, to take a stand against the new draft. 

Saied's assumption of power came at a critical time in the country. The economic, social and health crises caused by the pandemic led Tunisians to take to the streets in protest in the midst of a widely divided society. One year on, the economic and social situation remains latent and no solutions are in sight in the short term. 

With 70% of the vote, 64-year-old Kais Saied was elected president of Tunisia in 2019, beating his rival Nabil Karoui. In these elections, the current president ran independently with a clear objective: "to return to the origins of the revolution" in order to work for a "society of law".

In his first measures, he advocated the creation of a Constitutional Court, decentralising powers and replacing legislative elections with local elections that, according to the president, would elect "representatives of the people at the local level and then elect a representative at the regional level who will be in charge of representation in Parliament, known as the Assembly of People's Representatives". In turn, during the first months he sought to tackle political corruption and to defend women's rights in a country that has managed to position itself as one of the most advanced in the defence of women's rights in the region.