Clashes broke out on Saturday June 4 between the police and a hundred demonstrators protesting in Tunis against a referendum planned for July by President Kaïs Saïed, a year after his coup described as a coup by the opposition.

Some participants in the protest organized by five smaller parties held up signs that read "President's Commission = Fraud Commission".

>> To see, our Debate: "What future for Tunisia of President Kaïs Saïed?"

"The police... used tear gas against us and attacked us," Tunisian Workers' Party spokesman Hamma Hammami said.

The police blocked demonstrators who were trying to reach the headquarters of the Independent Higher Authority for Elections (Isie), whose president was appointed by Kais Saïed himself.

According to opponents, this measure aims to extend its control over state institutions.

Concentration of powers

Since July 25, 2021, Kaïs Saïed, ensuring to act in the interest of Tunisia in the face of politico-economic blockages, concentrates all the powers and directs the country by decree-laws, raising fears of an autocratic drift in the cradle of the Arab Spring.

In a roadmap supposed to get the country out of the crisis, Kaïs Saïed has planned a referendum on constitutional amendments on July 25, before legislative elections on December 17.

No draft of the new Constitution, which will be submitted to the people in the form of a simple yes/no vote, has however been published.

The Association of Tunisian Magistrates announced on Saturday a national strike of one week from Monday, renewable, in "all the courts" of the country, two days after the dismissal by President Saïed of 57 magistrates, accused in particular of corruption.

In a statement, the magistrates "strongly condemned the permanent interference of the president in the judiciary".

They accuse him of granting himself the power to dismiss them "without the slightest recourse" possible, "violating the most basic right to defend oneself, guaranteed in the Constitution".

Start of the "national dialogue"

Saturday also marked the start of the "national dialogue" organized by the president to draw up the new Constitution.

This is boycotted by the opposition, including the powerful UGTT trade union organization, which believes that key players in civil society and political parties are excluded.

The president's opponents accuse him of leading the country towards autocracy and of wanting to set up a docile electoral body before the referendum and the legislative elections.

On April 22, Kaïs Saïed assumed the power to appoint three of the seven members of Isie, including the president.

On May 9, he appointed Farouk Bouasker, a former member of Isie, president of this body to replace Nabil Baffoun, who had criticized the July 2021 coup.

Many Tunisians, however, support his actions against a system they say has done little to improve their quality of life in the decade since the 2011 uprising that toppled dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.

In addition to the political crisis, Tunisia is in the throes of serious economic difficulties, including galloping inflation and very high unemployment.

Over-indebted, the country is trying to obtain a new loan from the International Monetary Fund of at least four billion dollars.

With AFP

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