The head of the Commission responsible for drafting the new Tunisian Constitution, Sadok Belaïd, disavowed, on Sunday July 3, the version which was amended by the Head of State Kais Saïed and published in the Official Journal (JORT).
The head of the « National Consultative Commission for a New Republic » is probably not found in the version made public by the president; this is what his letter appeared in the columns of the Assabah newspaper (independent).
“It is our duty to announce with all force and sincerity that the text which has been published and submitted to a referendum is not linked to the text which we have prepared and submitted to the President. The commission is totally different from the project proposed by the president”, declared this former dean of the Faculty of Law of Tunis.
And to explain, « the text issued by the Presidency of the Republic undermines the identity of Tunisia and opens the way to a dictatorship by attributing all power to the President of the Republic ».
According to him, the revised version « includes a suspicious return to article 80 of the 2014 Constitution, about the ‘imminent peril’ through which the president guarantees himself extended prerogatives, under conditions that he alone defines, this which constitutes a prelude to a dictatorial regime ».
« In my capacity as President of the National Consultative Commission (…), I declare with regret, and in full awareness of the responsibility vis-à-vis the Tunisian people, to whom the final decision belongs, that the Commission is totally innocent of the text submitted by the president to the referendum”, he insisted.
The media release of Belaid, a close associate of President Saïed, came on the same day as the official start of the campaign for the referendum on the draft Constitution, in accordance with the timetable set by the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE).
It undoubtedly discredits the text which will be submitted to referendum on July 25, given its label of a renowned jurist. Also, his concerns corroborate with the concerns raised for months by the opposition, to see the president arrogating vast powers.
The Presidency has not yet reacted to Belaïd’s statement. Within the population, questions, unanswered for the time being, are probably raised.
By OMA Newsletter N° 767 of 04/07/2022
Article published under the direction of Dr. Najib Kettani
The OMA, NGO with an Intercontinental vocation
For the development of cultural exchanges
Valuing human potential
The promotion and consolidation of Africa’s development, and
Inter-African integration
