Tunisia entered the stage of electoral silence for the referendum on the new draft constitution. During this day, official bodies, opponents or supporters of the constitution are prohibited from conducting electoral campaigning a day before the start of the vote that will take place inside the country tomorrow, Monday.

The head of the Independent High Authority for Elections, Farouk Bouaskar, stressed the need to respect the requirements of electoral silence, considering election campaigning during the day of silence as a criminal offense, and the electoral commission can refer it to the Public Prosecution.

Bouaskar said earlier that preparations for the referendum are going smoothly, and that polling stations opened in about 44 countries on Saturday to enable Tunisians abroad to vote.

Bouaskar expressed his hope that the percentage of participation and voting in the referendum would exceed the rates recorded in the 2019 elections, and stressed that the numbers recorded during the first day of polling for Tunisians abroad exceeded what was recorded during the previous electoral dates.

In response to a question by Al-Jazeera correspondent, Bouaskar said that the most important guarantee of the integrity of the elections is that the final results of the referendum will not be approved until after the judiciary has decided on any appeals against them, in addition to the participation of civil society in monitoring them.

The invitation made by the Tunisian president to participate in the referendum is part of a path that the country entered a year ago through exceptional measures that Saeed began to impose on July 25, 2021, most notably the dismissal of the government and the appointment of another, the dissolution of Parliament and the Judicial Council, the issuance of legislation by presidential decrees, and the early parliamentary elections to December 17 next.

The Ennahda Movement, Qalb Tounes, the Dignity Coalition, the Tunis Movement of Will and Hope, the Republican Party, the Democratic Current, the Democratic Bloc for Labor and Liberties, and the Workers' Party called for a boycott of the referendum and considered it an "illegal process." Citizens Against the Coup” boycotted the referendum, while the Tunisian General Labor Union - the largest trade union in the country - left freedom of decision to its supporters.

In contrast to the parties rejecting or boycotting the referendum, some parties announced their intention to participate and vote “yes.” These parties include: the People’s Movement, the Popular Current, Tunisia Forward, and the Alliance for Tunisia.

According to Reuters, there was little sign of public support for the referendum, with only a limited number of people participating in rallies to support it.


Demonstrations and accusations

Yesterday, Saturday, a new demonstration took place against the referendum on the new draft constitution in Tunisia, and hundreds participated in the demonstration called by the Salvation Front (which includes political forces, including the Ennahda movement, which was the most represented in the dissolved parliament) ahead of the referendum scheduled for tomorrow, Monday, under the slogan "" A victory for the values ​​of freedom and in defense of the gains of democracy.

The demonstrators raised slogans rejecting the referendum on the constitution, and denouncing what they said was a coup against the democratic experiment, targeting democratic institutions and restricting rights and freedoms.

Among the slogans raised by the protesters were "No to fraud", "Down with the referendum", "Stop the authoritarian rule" and "Leave, Saeed".

The head of the National Salvation Front, Ahmed Najib Chebbi, said that President Kais Saied is preparing to "forge the popular will" through a referendum, and return the country to the darkness of tyranny and individual rule.

Chebbi added that "the Tunisian people will deal a severe blow to Said's illegal referendum and will prove to them that they are indifferent to this populist path."

He added that the president is living in internal and external isolation, as he put it.

He also said that they will enter a phase called the continuation of the struggle against the path led by President Saeed until a national dialogue is organized, a rescue government is formed, and premature elections are organized.

For his part, the dissolved Tunisian House of Representatives Speaker Rached Ghannouchi said that the new constitution in Tunisia puts the authorities in one hand and confiscates freedoms and democracy.

Ghannouchi added, in an interview broadcast on the Internet, that all calls for dialogue with political parties, the Labor Union or others by Qais Saeed have failed.

Saturday's demonstration comes after a demonstration organized by other opposition parties against the referendum, which witnessed confrontations between protesters and security forces.

The captain of the Tunisian Journalists Syndicate said that what he called the de-facto authority is preparing for the success of the referendum through arrests and repression.

The Tunisian Journalists Syndicate considered what happened in the demonstrations on Friday in Bourguiba Street, in terms of repression and attacks on demonstrators and journalists, as a heinous crime against democracy.

The union's statement stated that part of its executive office was directly targeted during these demonstrations, including the head of the Syndicate of Journalists, whose face was sprayed from a very close range with nerve gas.

The Tunisian General Labor Union also condemned what it called the extreme violence imposed by the police on the demonstrators who rejected the referendum on the constitution and against journalists and their union in the demonstration that took place Friday in the capital.

In a statement, the union expressed its support for the demonstrators and rejected any attack on them.

He also demanded the release of detainees, and held the President of the Republic responsible for what he described as an authoritarian deviation.

On the other hand, the Tunisian president accused unnamed parties of distributing funds to disrupt the referendum on the draft constitution.

Saeed said in his speech that state institutions will confront anyone who violates his duty on the day of the referendum.