Tunisia constitutionally cleansed of Brotherhood: Kais Saied’s old attempts close to being realized

Sarah Rashad

Tunisian reports indicate that President Kais Saied is close to defining the parameters of the next stage of the country’s life after freezing the parliament and dissolving the government on July 25, reinforcing his recent media statements when he told Sky News Arabia that the possibility of amending the constitution is not excluded.

Rebirth and political criticism

Walid Hajjem, advisor to President Saied, said on Thursday, September 9, that there is a tendency to amend the political system in Tunisia, perhaps through a referendum, and that it is assumed that the constitution should be suspended and a temporary system of powers issued.

Prior to the recent events and decisions taken by Saied, the Tunisian system of government that was sanctioned by the 2014 constitution received criticism, as some described it as hybrid, being neither fully parliamentary nor presidential.

The constitution requires that the president be chosen through direct elections in which the people participate, but at the same time it does not grant powers that translate the volume of votes he has obtained. This entitlement also remains an obstacle to a complete parliamentary system that grants powers to representatives.

In support of these criticisms, Tunisia witnessed a negative translation that ended in violent conflicts in the country prior to July 25 between the presidency, represented by Kais Saied, and the parliament, led by Rached Ghannouchi and the prime minister.

Political battles

These conflicts caused a stalemate in the political scene, which affected the mainly deteriorating economic and living situation since 2011 and before, as well as the outbreak of the corona virus, which the Tunisian state failed to reduce at first.

Against this background, political battles erupted between the three institutions over powers, which ended in each party pushing its own advantage. The Ennahda movement, which controls the parliament, defended the marginalization of the president and the pursuit of a purely parliamentary system, while Saied called for a presidential system that respects the votes that Tunisians give directly to the president.

July 25 and its aftermath

All Saied’s attempts at amending the system of government were unrealistic in light of the resistance of the Ennahda-led parliament, but his decisions on July 25 in which he froze the parliament and dissolved the government, and the subsequent procedures that tracked the corrupt and the beneficiaries of the pre-historic political situation, have made Tunisia closer to a presidential system that gives the president additional powers other than those he enjoyed in the 2014 constitution, which are represented in the country’s foreign affairs.

Any constitutional amendment needs to disrupt the current constitution and set general frameworks to run the country until the completion of the amendments that will be put to the people in a popular referendum.

After 2011, Tunisia proceeded to write a constitution that was ratified by the people and was put into effect in 2014. It is believed that this constitution was put under the control of religious groups, led by the Ennahda movement, whose priority was to control the state’s joints, which justified the provision of the parliamentarism of the regime, as Ennahda was betting on winning parliament. When that actually happened, Ennahda took over the reins of power, since the constitution was drafted until July 25.