Today, Sunday, in Tunisia, the electoral campaign for the new draft constitution will be launched amid a wide political boycott by most of the parties represented in Parliament, whose work has been suspended and from outside it. .

From the date of the third of July to the 21st of the same month, the electoral campaign for the referendum on the new constitution, which is expected to be organized on July 25, and which is one of the most important points in the road map announced by the President of the Republic on December 13, 2021 within A number of decisions within the framework of exceptional measures.

The campaign is launched amidst severe disparities in the political scene in Tunisia, whether with regard to the nature of the referendum itself, or the draft constitution submitted to the referendum.

While positions vary between supporters, conservatives, and boycotts, the debate continues over the independence of the electoral commission after changing its composition and Saeed's appointment of its members following the dissolution of the previous body.

Brigadier General Sadiq Belaid dares to publish the draft constitution that he proposed to President Kais Saied within the framework of an official advisory committee...!!!

pic.twitter.com/DWs3VW5V6F

— Tunisian Monitor 🇹🇳 (@rsd_tunisian) July 2, 2022

denounce and exonerate

These developments come as the local newspaper, Al-Sabah, quoted the head of the Consultative Body for the Drafting of the Constitution, Sadiq Belaid, as saying that President Said had changed the proposed project he submitted to him, and that the final text was not related to the first proposed project.

Belaid also said that it is his responsibility to denounce the contents of the draft constitution issued by the presidency, which he called grave dangers and pitfalls, and stressed that the commission is completely innocent of the draft that the president put to the referendum.

In his message, published by Al-Sabah newspaper, titled "A mission of truth that I want falsehood," Brigadier-General Belaid shed light on a number of controversial points in the new constitution, noting that he regrets that the Presidency of the Republic has introduced "radical modifications in the original and in the spirit of the text" presented by the commission in charge.

Belaid said that one of the chapters of "Saeed's constitution" includes the imminent danger that would allow the president to extend his term and pave the way for a disgraceful dictatorship.

The head of the Consultative Body for the Drafting of the Constitution indicated that the text of the constitution issued by the presidency does not contain the political responsibility of the president.

He also added that the draft "President's Constitution" included a vague and ambiguous local and regional system that portends unexpected surprises.

Belaid also said that the "President's Constitution" includes an incomplete and unfair organization of the Constitutional Court and its powers and an appointment system that limits its independence, accusing the President of distorting the Tunisian identity through this copy of the constitution.


Proposal and provisions

The president has not commented on the constitution, since it was published on Thursday in the Official Gazette, and it will give the president much greater powers.

The Official Gazette published the text of the proposed new constitution that grants Saeed absolute powers, and a referendum on it will be held on July 25.

In the proposed constitution, Saied removed almost all checks on his rule and weakened the role of parliament and the judiciary, leading to widespread accusations from his opponents that he was undoing the democratic gains made by Tunisians in the 2011 revolution.

It also seized most of the power last year, ignoring the current 2014 democratic constitution and dissolving the elected parliament to say it would rule by decree while reshaping the political system.

In previous statements to Al-Jazeera, the founding member of the "New Republic" movement, Najib Al-Hajji, head of the Consultative Body for the Drafting of the Constitution, accused Belaid of being known for his coup against those who used him.

Al-Hajji blamed external parties that had put pressure on the head of the commission, according to him.

For his part, journalist and writer Salem Boulbaba said that Tunisians did not elect Saied to draft a constitution for them.

In a previous interview with Al-Jazeera, he criticized what he called the exclusion of the head of state from accountability in the new draft constitution.


Union position

Yesterday, the General Union of Labor, the largest trade union organization in Tunisia, announced its decision to leave freedom of choice for thousands of its labor bases regarding voting in the popular referendum on the new constitution.

The labor union initially supported the July 25 decisions, but later objected to President Saeed's management of the next phase and his individualistic tendency to make decisions.

The union also refused to participate in a national dialogue called by Saeed, because it lacked "real participation".