President Saied seeks to seize all power in a plebiscite he promoted dominated by opposition boycott calls and social discontent
Between the discouragement of the population and calls for a boycott by the opposition, nearly 9.2 million Tunisians were called on Monday to vote in a controversial constitutional referendum proposing the creation of an ultra-presidential regime. Kais Saied, the head of state and promoter of the consultation, plans to take full control of the legislative, executive, judiciary and military forces after he dissolved parliament a year ago on the grounds that he was responsible for the crisis that hit the country. since the ‘Jasmine Revolution’, the result of the ‘Arab Spring’, in 2011 overthrew the regime of Zine el Abidine ben Ali.
Saied, who went to vote with his wife in the coastal town of Ariana, criticized that “some actors” were trying to sabotage the vote by setting fires in Tunisia. Independent Superior Instance for Elections (ISIE) spokesman Mohamed Tlili Mansri assured the statements would be analyzed for failing to comply with the obligation not to speak out on a day when low turnout is taken for granted. According to the agency, barely 11.8% of the census had gone to the polls after the first six hours after the schools opened, more concerned about the dire state of the economy and the rise in prices than about politics.
The 15,000 voting centers set up across the country opened their doors without incident at 6 a.m. and are scheduled to close at 10 p.m. local time. The result of the referendum, as explained by the ISIE, will not be known until Tuesday or Wednesday. In any case, analysts point out that the new Constitution will certainly come into effect as the majority of the opposition urged the population not to participate and the consultation does not require a minimum number of voters.
The Islamist-inspired Ennahda party, which protested on Saturday and is the majority in parliament dissolved by Saied a year ago, called for a boycott of the meeting, saying it was an “illegal process”. Similarly, the main union, UGTT, gave no voice, while some 30 human rights groups denounced that the new Magna Carta project constitutes an “excessive concentration of power” around the figure of the president. ahead and have no legitimacy.”
The chairman of the committee responsible for drafting the text, Sadoc Belaid, warned that the document “doesn’t look at all like the prepared document”. Not in vain, Saied made changes to ensure control over all the powers of the state and also provide himself with full immunity and the power to take “exceptional measures”.
Either way, a turnout not reaching the 41% mark for the 2019 parliamentary election, the one with the lowest turnout since Ben Ali’s overthrow, would further question the legitimacy of the Magna Carta.
Source: La Verdad
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