The abstention of the Tunisian President, Qais Said, to conclude the draft law to revise the Constitutional Court and its return to Parliament, provoked mixed reactions among the political circles, between those who described it as the president's desire to prolong the crisis and monopolize the interpretation of the constitution, and those who considered it a right to be guaranteed for him by the Constitution of the Second Republic.

About two weeks ago, Parliament succeeded in ratifying a number of amendments related to the revision and completion of the Basic Law on the Constitutional Court by a majority of 110 votes, in an effort to facilitate the process of electing its members and establishing them as soon as possible.

President Qais Saeed returned the draft revision of the Constitutional Court’s law to Parliament, asserting that he would not conclude it due to a procedural defect because the court did not ...

Posted by Zied El-Heni on Sunday, April 4, 2021

After Said refused to seal the bill and return it to parliament, the new ratification of the revisions requires a vote of strength, or 131 votes.

The Tunisian constitution stipulates that the Constitutional Court must be formed within a maximum period of one year from the date of the legislative elections that were held in 2014, but parliamentary blocs were able to elect only one member (a woman) in March 2018 out of 4 members due to partisan disputes and disputes.

The president justified his refusal to seal the draft Constitutional Court bill with a set of legal arguments, the most important of which are those related to the constitutional deadlines for establishing the court, as well as other legal elements related to what Tunisia has witnessed since the constitution was drafted until today, according to the text of the presidential statement.

The President of the Republic stressed "the necessity to respect all provisions of the constitution, without any scientific or even innocent interpretation."

The project to build a state of institutions and law, which prevails over individuals and individual whims, must proceed to its end without stopping, whatever it is ...

Posted by Dr Rafik Abdessalem on Sunday, April 4, 2021

Disrupting the Constitutional Court

Party leaders accused the president of the republic of seeking to obstruct the establishment of the Constitutional Court, "so that he remains the only monopolist in interpreting the constitution." And the leader of the Ennahda movement, Sami Al-Tariki, accused the president of the republic of seeking to prolong the political crisis in the country, and showing hostility to any project approved by Parliament.

In his interview with Al-Jazeera Net, Al-Tariki asked about the feasibility of the national dialogue that the Labor Union called for under the supervision of the Presidency of the Republic, in light of the lack of a real desire from him to get out of the political crisis and hunting for opportunities to attack Parliament and question its intentions.

On the other hand, he considered that Said's response to the bill is a right guaranteed to him by the constitution, but the blame relates to the arguments he presented in his letter, adding, "Legal texts are written to formulate a social contract, not that the social contract becomes obstructed by the texts."

Posted by Seif Eddine Makhlouf on Sunday, 4 April 2021

Ghannouchi's advisor called on the parliament to "rise up to its legitimacy and legitimacy by voting with a majority reinforced by 145 votes for the law and blocking the road from any absurd course aimed at the country's interest and stability."

The Secretary-General of the Republican Party, Essam Al-Shabi, asked in a lengthy post about the significance of the president's response to the draft amendment of the Constitutional Court Law to Parliament, and the reasoning of the expiration of the constitutional deadlines, and "whether it conceals his desire to refuse to complete the constitutional bodies and to adapt this in his political struggle at the expense of the country's stability." .

On the other hand, he expressed his hope that the constitutional procedures will be respected and that the parliament will ratify the bill again with a strengthened majority (131 deputies), which would enable the Constitutional Court to be quickly established.

The president responds to the law "to the council", not "to the council."

Politics is the art of the possible, and with this president, you cannot find a solution.

It turns on ...

Posted by Mabrouk Hrizi on Sunday, April 4, 2021

Parliament is expected to hold a plenary session on the eighth of this month to complete the election of the remaining three members of the Constitutional Court, while the expert in constitutional law Rabah Al-Kharaifi considered that the session no longer has any meaning after Qais Saeed responded to the bill.

In his speech to Al-Jazeera Net, Al-Kharaifi pointed out that the president's response was political and not constitutional, when Parliament mentioned Article 148 of the Constitution that establishes the Constitutional Court within a year of the 2014 legislative elections, so that Parliament indirectly held responsibility for obstruction.

The expert was surprised, on the other hand, that President Qais Saeed did not go to challenge the draft law with the Interim Authority to monitor the constitutionality of draft laws, and announce his position after the legal deadlines for appeals have passed.

Article 118 of the Tunisian constitution stipulates that "the Constitutional Court is an independent judicial body consisting of 12 qualified members, 3 quarters of whom are legal specialists, with no less than 20 years of experience."

"The President of the Republic, the Assembly of the Representatives of the People, and the Supreme Judicial Council shall appoint 4 members, provided that 3 quarters of them are specialists in law, and the appointment is for a single period of 9 years."

This independent constitutional body is entrusted with vital tasks related to the integrity of the democratic transition process in the country by ensuring the maintenance of the constitution, protecting rights and freedoms, monitoring the constitutionality of draft laws presented by Parliament, and monitoring the constitutionality of international treaties concluded by the President of the Republic.

A constitutional right however

Representative of the Democratic Current, Nabil Hajji, says that the constitution grants the President of the Republic the right to reject any bill presented to him by Parliament, but he stressed, in return, his party’s keenness to establish the Constitutional Court as soon as possible.

He continued to Al-Jazeera Net, "We in the democratic bloc have voted on the amendments related to the draft revision of the Constitutional Court Law. We will also study the relevance of the reasoning presented by the president."

Hajji stressed that the country can no longer tolerate any political battles and require a minimum level of consensus to establish the Constitutional Court.

Regarding the accusations against Saeed of his desire to monopolize the interpretation of the constitution by pushing for not establishing the Constitutional Court, the deputy rejected what he said was an entry into intentions, but added, "We will not enter into the president's intentions, but if we confirm that, the matter becomes very dangerous."

Tunisia is witnessing an unprecedented political crisis, more than two months after the parliament approved by an absolute majority a cabinet reshuffle rejected by President Qais Saeed, which deepened the rift between the head of state on the one hand and the heads of government and parliament on the other hand.

In relieving the president from his duties ... or in the necessity to protect the Constitutional Court ... from tampering ... with reference to the issue of exempting the president from his duties ...

Posted by Naoufel Saied on Saturday, 27 March 2021

The president's brother replies

The president’s brother, Professor of Constitutional Law, Nawfal Saeed, warned in his posts about what he described as a scheme to dismiss the President of the Republic and accelerate the establishment of the Constitutional Court, by accusing the President of committing a "serious mistake" in relation to the crisis of the constitutional oath of new ministers.

One of them stated, "As long as the president of the republic exercises his constitutional powers with respect to the constitution, the constitutional court cannot, in principle, decide to dismiss him."

He continued, "The risk increases if we know that their speeding up the creation of the Constitutional Court now is for the purpose of consecrating this confusion by dressing the law with politics and pushing it to the maximum against the President of the Republic, especially if we know that according to Article 88 of the Constitution, it is sufficient for the majority of the members of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People to initiate a justified list to exempt the President of the Republic." ".

The president’s brother also considered in a recent post that President Qais Saeed “bears no responsibility for missing the establishment of the Constitutional Court within its constitutional deadline.”