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The final results of a controversial referendum granting undue powers to the office of Tunisia’s President Kais Saied showed 94.6 percent of voters supported the resolution and a minuscule percentage voted against it. The official announcement of the referendum held on 25 July is being officially out now, although unofficially it was widely reported
The final results of a controversial referendum granting undue powers to the office of Tunisia’s President Kais Saied showed 94.6 percent of voters supported the resolution and a minuscule percentage voted against it. The official announcement of the referendum held on 25 July is being officially out now, although unofficially it was widely reported.
The charter was approved by just over 2.6 million people. Turnout was one of the lowest at slightly over 30 percent. Saied sacked the government and froze parliament in what rivals have branded a coup. Despite the low turnout, Saied’s move against a system that emerged after the 2011 overthrow of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was welcomed by many Tunisians.
Many people were fed up with high inflation and unemployment, political turmoil, and a system they felt had brought little improvement to their lives. However, opposition politicians and human rights groups have warned of a return to dictatorship under the new constitution.
The new text puts the president in command of the army, allows him to appoint a government without parliamentary approval, and makes it virtually impossible to remove him from office. He can also present draft laws to parliament, which will be obliged to give them a priority. A second chamber is created within parliament to represent the regions and counterbalance the assembly itself.
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Tunisia is mired in crisis with a growth of just three percent, nearly 40 percent of young people are jobless and four million people out of a population of nearly 12 million are in poverty. For weeks, the heavily indebted country has been negotiating a new loan with the International Monetary Fund, hoping to obtain US$4 billion, and support from the EU.
