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The political forces in Tunisia continued to criticize the amendments introduced by President Kais Saied to the draft constitution, and some critics also challenged the legality of the procedures, given that these amendments were made after the launch of the referendum campaign on this project.
A member of the Executive Committee of the National Salvation Front, Samir Dilo, said – in a Facebook post under the title “In the stealth amendment… Is it fraud or just fraud?” – that what was announced under the title “Reforming Errors” was an amendment to multiple provisions while avoiding the complications of assigning committees. And bodies and bear the embarrassment of their protests after throwing the outputs of their work in the trash, as he put it.
Dilo added that the amendments avoided the powers of the president, his lack of accountability and impeachment, the separation and balance of powers, the composition and powers of the Constitutional Court, and the real independence of the judiciary.
Tunisian media quoted the former judge of the Administrative Court, Ahmed Sawab, as saying that the order to fix errors came with a new draft constitution different from the one that was published in the Official Gazette at the end of last June.
Judge Sawab added that the election commission, if it is truly independent – as he put it – should prepare the new text that came outside the legal deadlines, or launch the referendum campaign again.
Election Commission
The controversy is still going on regarding the independence of the Electoral Commission after changing its composition and appointing Saeed as its members following the dissolution of the previous commission.
For his part, the coordinator of the “Citizens Against the Coup” movement, Jawhar bin Mubarak, said that the old version of the project was prepared by Qais Saeed alone, and “he separated it according to his size, and he is the one who amended it, not a constitution.”
He wondered, addressing his words to the Election Commission: How is the amendment to a draft constitution during the electoral campaign for a referendum on it?! He likened this to the amendment of candidates for the presidential and parliamentary elections during the electoral campaign period.
The Secretary-General of the Republican Party, Issam Chebbi, also denounced these changes, saying that Tunisia’s interest requires putting an end to this absurdity and this farce, as he put it.
The electoral campaign for the referendum on the draft constitution began on the 3rd of July and will continue until the 21st of the same month.
The referendum – scheduled for July 25 – is one of the most important points in the road map announced by Tunisian President Kais Saied, among a number of exceptional measures opposed by the most prominent political parties and forces as a coup against the constitution.
Modified version
After controversy and criticism of the draft constitution, on which voters were called for a referendum, Saeed published last Friday an amended version in the Official Gazette that included amendments described as minor, and that they do not affect the president’s powers.
The amended version included correcting linguistic errors, changing the order of some sections and chapters of the constitution, and adding phrases to some chapters.
The amendments indicated that work in the legislative field will continue with the provisions of Presidential Order No. 117 relating to exceptional measures until the Assembly of the Representatives of the People assumes its functions after organizing the elections of its members.
Saeed had said that errors in form and arrangement had leaked out of the draft constitution that had been published and had to be reformed and corrected, stressing that there should be no retreat from the basic options in the text of the constitution because they are at the heart and spirit of the revolution, as he put it.
As for the Tunisian General Labor Union, he said that the draft constitution violated the principles of separation and balance between powers.
The union said in a statement that the proposed text enables the president to control all powers and authorities, places him above all accountability and oversight, and immunizes him from all political or penal accountability.
The first version of the draft constitution, which the president published in the Official Gazette on June 30, was widely criticized, and critics said it paves the way for a return to dictatorship in Tunisia.
The head of the Consultative Commission for the Drafting of the Constitution, Sadiq Belaid, repudiated this draft, who accused President Saied of changing the text, and said that the final draft was not related to the version prepared by the commission.
