What is the truth about the existence of a draft constitution ready for the Tunisian president?

Tunisia -

Only 3 days are left until Tunisian President Kais Saied handed over a draft of a new draft constitution from the advisory committee supervising its drafting.

While his opponents believe that the committee has not completed any draft, and that the president has a ready constitution that he will submit to a referendum, his supporters say that the draft constitution will be ready within the specified deadlines after it is developed in a participatory manner.

Saeed had issued a presidential decree regarding the creation of the National Consultative Commission for a "new republic", to draft a new constitution to be submitted to a referendum on July 25.

The commission consists of the Advisory Committee for Economic and Social Affairs, the Legal Advisory Committee, and the National Dialogue Committee.

What is the composition of the committees that will write the draft constitution?

The Advisory Committee for Economic and Social Affairs, which collects proposals for the new draft constitution, is composed of representatives from the Labor Union, the Employers Union, the Agriculture Union, the Women's Union, and the League for the Defense of Human Rights. Any party that the committee deems appropriate is summoned to it.

The labor union refused to participate in her work because she was an advisory body.

As for the composition of the Legal Advisory Committee, which is technically concerned with preparing a draft constitution, it was appointed by Qais Saeed from representatives of the Labor Union (which boycotts participation), the Federation of Industry and Trade (the Union of Business Owners), the Union of Agriculture, the Union of Women, and the League for the Defense of Human Rights, in addition to To 7 deans from the faculties of law and political science and the faculties of legal and political studies.

The National Dialogue Committee is composed of the members of the two mentioned committees, and in light of the results of their work, it will synthesize their proposals for the drafting of a new constitution. Then, President Kais Saied is supposed to receive the new constitution draft from the head of the National Consultative Commission for a New Republic, Sadiq Belaid, no later than June 20. current.

Is there a draft constitution ready for the president?

The first work of the National Consultative Commission for a New Republic, tasked with drafting the constitution, kicked off with the beginning of the meeting of one of its main committees (the Consultative Committee for Economic and Social Affairs) on 4 June, amid the boycott of the Labor Union (the largest trade union in the country), with the participation of personalities Some of them are not familiar with economics.

Despite its few meetings, what is remarkable - according to Jawhar bin Mubarak, a leader in the Salvation Front opposing the president and the referendum - is that the Legal Advisory Committee technically charged with writing the articles of the draft constitution did not meet, recalling the apology of the deans of the faculties of law and political science for participating in the composition of the Legal Advisory Committee in order to preserve the their neutrality.

Bin Mubarak told Al Jazeera Net that "talking about drafting a constitution in a participatory manner at the core of the advisory committees laughed at the chins," asking, "Where is the draft constitution while the legal technical committee has not met once?"

For him, there are two assumptions, "either there is no draft constitution at all, or there is a constitution ready in advance."

This political activist criticized President Said's issuance of a presidential decree calling on Tunisians to participate in the referendum on the constitution next July 25 with a yes or no, without publishing the new draft constitution for viewing.

"The constitution is a social contract accomplished by the various components of society, but what happened is the writing of a custom-made constitution," he said.

What progress has been made in the process of writing the new constitution?

Contrary to what the president's opponents are promoting, the progress of drafting a new constitution in the advisory committees is progressing steadily, and President Kais Saied will be handed over to the president within the deadline set for this June 20, to present it to Tunisians before going through the crucial step of the referendum, according to the political activist. Ahmed Al-Kahlawi.

Al-Kahlawi, who is the head of the pro-presidential National Struggle Movement, says that saying that the Legal Consultative Committee did not meet or that there was a draft constitution ready is "slander", revealing that the Advisory Committee for Economic and Social Affairs has met 4 times since the beginning of this month, and the participants in its work submitted 50 proposals to formulate the Constitution.

He explained that experts in the Economic and Social Consultative Committee led by the Dean of Lawyers, Ibrahim Bouderbala, classified the proposals before sending them to the Legal Advisory Committee, which meets away from the media spotlight, because the decree places all members of the advisory committees with a duty of reservation and keeping the deliberations secret, he said.

He revealed that the National Dialogue Committee, which includes the Economic and Social Consultative Committee and the Legal Committee, will meet tomorrow, Saturday, at the Hospitality Palace in Carthage, to listen to the draft constitution before presenting it at the latest next Monday, June 20, to the President’s attention, until he reveals the last version of the constitution on the 30th of current month.

What are the main features of the new constitution?

Ahmed Al-Kahlawi confirms that the new draft constitution will re-establish a democratic presidential system to overcome the weaknesses found in the 2014 constitution, such as the conflict of powers between the two heads of the executive authority (the head of state and the head of government). It was misapplied, he said.

But political activist Jawhar bin Mubarak confirms that the new draft constitution will return Tunisia to the square of dictatorship, considering that the project of the Tunisian president - who has ruled since his announcement on July 25, 2021 of exceptional measures that included suspending the work of Parliament and dissolving the government - is "the acquisition of all powers." .

The head of the National Consultative Commission for a New Republic, Sadiq Belaid, had indicated the broad outlines of the features of the draft constitution, revealing the tendency to establish a presidential system in exchange for a decline in the powers of the government and parliament, whose role will become legislative, and he will not choose the prime minister from the party that wins the elections.

Any scenarios if the constitution is rejected in the referendum?

The electoral commission, whose composition was recently changed by the Tunisian president, is supposed to organize a referendum on the new draft constitution on July 25, 2022. Constitutional law professor Rabeh Al-Kharaifi tells Al Jazeera Net that it is not excluded in the legal vacuum that the president will prepare a new draft constitution to present it from New to the referendum mechanism.

Political activist Ahmed Al-Kahlawi rules out the Tunisians boycott of the referendum in order to pass the new constitution, due to their anger over the deteriorating conditions in the country over the past decade.

On the other hand, political activist Jawhar bin Mubarak says that the referendum is doomed to failure, especially with the coalescence of the political movement and the social movement following the general strike organized yesterday by the Labor Union.