Tunisian President Kais Saied said today, Tuesday, that the first chapter of Tunisia's new constitution will be changed to stipulate that Islam is the religion of the nation and not the state's, and he saw that the state is moral, while religion is linked to man, as he put it.

Said added, in a speech during his supervision of the launch of the first flight of Tunisian pilgrims from Tunis-Carthage International Airport, that the state seeks to achieve the purposes of Islam and Sharia, as he put it.

Tunisian news sites quoted him as saying, “Religion is the religion of the nation, not the religion of the state, as the latter is a public company that cannot pass on the path or carry a zafounah to enter Heaven or Hell.” (Zaqfouneh is an expression mentioned in the letter of forgiveness by Abu Ala Al-Ma’arri, who lived in the fifth century AH ).

He was also quoted by news websites as saying that it is not possible to cleanse the country without cleansing the judiciary.

The general coordinator of the "Consultative Body for a New Republic" in Tunisia, Sadiq Belaid, handed on Monday the preliminary version of the new draft constitution to President Kais Saied for consideration before it was published to the public on June 30.

A statement by the Tunisian presidency said that the meeting touched on the course of the dialogue that took place in the last period, and Saeed stressed that the draft constitution is not final and that some of its chapters are subject to review.

According to some participants in the recent dialogue sessions, the new constitution will adopt the presidential system, instead of the quasi-parliamentary system established by the 2014 constitution.

A referendum on the new constitution is scheduled for next July 25, and several political forces - including the Ennahda Movement - announced their boycott of the referendum, stressing that its outcome is known in advance.

boycott the referendum

Meanwhile, the head of the Tunisian Ennahda Movement, Rached Ghannouchi, called for a boycott of the popular referendum on the constitution, considering that the path Kais Saied is going is a dead end.

Ghannouchi said - in an interview with Al Jazeera Mubasher - that Saeed calls for what he calls a new republic with an individual will that brings together powers in the hands of an absolute ruler, adding that constitutions are not written in a hurry, but rather on a quiet fire.

The head of the Ennahda movement said that the movement does not seek to return to power, but rather to restore the democratic path, considering that state institutions cannot accept what he described as a long-term coup against the constitution.

labor union

For his part, the Secretary-General of the Tunisian General Labor Union (the largest trade union in Tunisia), Noureddine Tabboubi, said today, Tuesday, that the union is a difficult number, and it cannot be overcome at any stage.

Al-Taboubi added that despite the treachery and distortion, the strike that the union carried out in the public sector - last Thursday - was extremely successful.

He added that the trade union organization will not retreat from what he described as its right to strike.