"French" witness raises dual nationality issue in Tunisian presidential race

Amal Hilali - Tunisia

Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed's announcement that he will give up his French citizenship in preparation for the country's mid-month elections has sparked a fierce debate over dual candidates and their right to run for president.

The witness, in a move that surprised a large number of Tunisians on his Facebook page on Tuesday, that he holds French citizenship, and he decided to give up after the announcement of his official candidacy for the presidential elections.

He explained that he had obtained French citizenship, like "hundreds of thousands of Tunisians who have lived and worked abroad", calling on the remaining candidates to give up their second nationality, if any, and not to wait for victory in the elections until they take this step.

The Constitution
Article 74 of the Tunisian Constitution requires any candidate for the presidency of the Republic if he holds a nationality other than Tunisian nationality, to submit, within the file of his candidacy, an undertaking to renounce his second nationality if he wins the elections.

A large spectrum of journalists, politicians and activists wondered about the secret of the prime minister's concealment of his second nationality despite the lapse of three years since he became prime minister, and his choice revealed this to the public only because he ran for presidency.

"The witness is not legally obliged or constitutionally required to reveal his second nationality," said Mustapha Ben Ahmed, deputy head of the political body of the "Long Live Tunisia" movement, denouncing the attack by some political opponents.

Questioning campaign
In a statement to Al Jazeera Net, Bin Ahmed reminded the existence of political figures who held ministerial positions in the government and held second nationality, calling on political opponents to rise above what he called a campaign to question the patriotism and loyalty of dual nationals of Tunisia.

The witness is not the only candidate for the presidential election of another nationality, as the candidate of the former prime minister, Mehdi Gomaa, revealed his French citizenship, stating in a blog post on August 13 that he had obtained it after living more than twenty years abroad, Like thousands of expatriate Tunisians.

Gomaa stressed that holding a second passport was merely an administrative measure aimed at facilitating his life in France, and has nothing to do with belonging to the country and his love, stressing that he has initiated the procedures to abandon this passport.

Other candidates include Hashemi al-Hamidi, who has lived in Britain for years, and Saeed al-Aydi, a former health minister.

Gimmick for years
Journalist and political analyst Mohamed Bouaoud accused the prime minister of circumventing Tunisians and concealing his French citizenship during the last three years in which he took office, wondering whether the late Tunisian President Beji Kaid Essebsi knew about this when he was appointed to the position or was hidden from him.

He said the witness hid his second nationality over the past period, while his supporters were attacking former president Moncef Marzouki, Hashemi Hamidi and Mehdi Juma on the grounds that they had other nationalities.

In his view, the witness's announcement of his renunciation of French citizenship was not a decision stemming from a sense of national responsibility, but rather to score points against his rivals in the second nationality.

On the other hand, the General Rapporteur of the Constitution and MP for Ennahda Habib Khather said that the Constitution does not oblige the Prime Minister to declare or renounce his second nationality, but "he had to disclose it out of transparency."

Second nationality
Tunisians circulated through social media intensively a copy of the official gazette in France, including the witness's decision to relinquish his French citizenship.

He condemned the academic and political activist Tarek Kahlaoui hide the witness and Friday hold French citizenship in front of the Tunisian public, wondering in a note to him if the "technical expression to give up citizenship in French law is to give loyalty to France, so who was the loyalty of Messrs. At the level of authority? ".

Independent MP Yassin Ayari said he would propose in the next parliament, if he wins, a law requiring the publication of the nationality of every official in the state if he holds any other nationality, with "it must be suspended or renounced before other nationalities before assuming responsibility."

The writer Karim Marzouki described the issue of the witness's concealment of his French citizenship as moral before it was legal, wondering about the secret of concealing the matter over the past years, calling on his Facebook page to amend the constitution towards compulsory Tunisian citizenship only to the Prime Minister in view of the sensitivity of this position.