In Tunisia, the author of the new Constitution disavows the text published by the presidency

Published on: 04/07/2022 – 20:08 The lawyer in charge of drafting a new Constitution for Tunisia publicly criticized on Sunday the text published in the Official Journal, whose adoption during the referendum scheduled for July 25 could, according to him “opening the way to a dictatorial regime”. The academic in charge of drafting the new Tunisian Constitution roundly repudiated, on Sunday July 3, the text published by the presidency, believing that it could grant the president “very broad powers” ​​allowing him to govern without safeguards. .Sadok Belaïd, head of the National Consultative Commission for a New Republic, tasked by President Kaïs Saïed with drafting a new Constitution, had given him his draft on 20 June. But in a letter published by the newspaper Assabah, the lawyer completely dissociates himself from the text made public Thursday by the Head of State, who had assumed full powers almost a year ago by dismissing the government and suspending the Parliament dominated by the Islamo-conservative party Ennahda, his pet peeve. all the more scathing that it comes from a respected jurist close to the president, and that it lends credence to the opposition’s accusations that the draft constitution enshrines authoritarian power in the hands of a single man. indeed grants vast powers to the Head of State, marking a radical break with the rather parliamentary system in place since 2014, a source of recurring conflicts between the executive and legislative branches.”Considerable shortcomings””In my capacity as President of the National Consultative Commission (…), I declare with regret, and in full awareness of the responsibility vis-à-vis the Tunisian people, to whom the last decision belongs, that the Commission is totally innocent of the text submitted by the President to the referendum “, he added. According to him, the project published by Kaïs Saïed “contains considerable risks and shortcomings”. He cites in particular an article on “imminent danger” which guarantees the Head of State “very broad powers, under conditions which he determines alone, which could open the way to a dictatorial regime”. by invoking a similar article which appeared in the 2014 Constitution that Kaïs Saïed had assumed full powers on July 25, 2021 after months of political blockages, shaking the young democracy in the country from where the Arab Spring revolts were parties in 2011. Sadok Belaïd also noted “the political non-responsibility of the President of the Republic” in the published text, which allows him to govern without safeguards.” The text that I finalized after several weeks of work with the participation of dozens of experts at all levels is completely different from the text which was published to be submitted to the referendum”, insisted Sadok Belaïd to AFP, considering that the project in its form current foreshadowed it of a “bad future” for Tunisia. .His text and that published by the president are so different in his eyes that he compares them to “two parallel lines”. The amended text confirms the expected presidentialization of the regime by stipulating that the “president of the Republic exercises executive power, aided by a government headed by a “head of government” that he appoints. This government will not be presented to Parliament to obtain confidence. general policy of the State and ratifies the laws. It can also submit legislative texts to Parliament, which must examine them “as a matter of priority”. In addition to the fact that the text considerably reduces the role and power of Parliament, it also provides for the establishment of a second chamber, “the ‘National Assembly of Regions’. It also contains no mention of Islam as a “state religion” unlike the previous Charters. With AFP