In an interview with the French newspaper "Le Monde" published today, Monday, the head of the advisory body for the drafting of the new Tunisian constitution, Sadiq Belaid, denounced the draft constitution that was recently published, considering that the text presented by President Kais Saied was "dangerous", and this comes as the election campaign entered that day. Second, amid a sharp political divide.

In his lengthy interview with the French newspaper, the retired dean of the Faculty of Legal Sciences stated that the draft constitution submitted to the vote is dangerous, and establishes an endless dictatorship in the interest of the current president, expressing his concern about “rebuilding the religious authority” and thus “a return to what he called the “dark ages of Islamic civilization.” .

In response to a question about his reservations about the text of the constitution that was published in the Official Gazette, the head of the advisory committee, Brigadier General Belaid, said that this constitution has revived the debate over national identity, and that there is a tendency in the text towards tyranny by power, adding, "I regret that there is a big difference between the two texts."

Saeed (right) while receiving a copy of the constitution prepared by the Consultative Commission (Anatolia)

Dictatorship warning

And Belaid continued, in response to the journalist’s query about whether the new regime seeks to perpetuate tyranny by power, saying, “In fact, the authority is heading through the so-called principle of the presidency towards establishing a kind of endless dictatorship in the country in favor of the current president, and the presidential text may give him the temptation to renew his term after the expiry of his term. Duration in the event of an "imminent danger".

Several points of difference emerged between the draft constitution presented by Belaid and the version published by the Presidency of the Republic, and there are chapters that were not originally included in the draft and others that have been changed.

Since Sunday, Belaid explained in an interview with the Tunisian newspaper Al-Sabah that there are many discrepancies, most notably the fifth chapter, which relates that Tunisia is part of the Islamic nation, and that the state works alone to achieve the purposes of the Islamic religion.

He also considered that the president's draft constitution included an ambiguous and ambiguous local and regional system that portends unexpected surprises, and also denounced what he called an incomplete and unfair organization of the Constitutional Court, which limits its independence.


absolute powers

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

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

In the proposed constitution, Saied removed nearly 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.

He also seized most of the powers last year, ignoring the current 2014 democratic constitution and dissolving the elected parliament, saying he would rule by decree until he reconfigured the political system.


referendum campaign

Meanwhile, the campaign for the referendum on the new constitution is entering its second day, amid a sharp political divide.

The electoral campaign for the referendum on the new constitution began yesterday, Sunday, and will continue until July 21, which is one of the most important points in the road map announced by the President of the Republic on December 13, 2021, among a number of decisions within the framework of exceptional measures.

The campaign is launched amidst severe discrepancies in the political scene in Tunisia, both 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 appointing Saeed as its members following the dissolution of the previous body.