Tunisia poll panel approves new constitution
Tunis:tunisia has approved a new constitution granting unchecked powers to the office of President Kais Saied, the electoral board said, ater a poorly atended referendum in which voters overwhelmingly backed the document.
Saied’s rivals accused the electoral board controlled by Saied of “fraud” and said his referendum, held on Monday, had failed.
On Tuesday evening, electoral commission head Farouk Bouasker told journalists the body “announces the acceptance of the new drat constitution for the Republic of Tunisia,” based on preliminary results, with 94.6 percent of valid ballots voting “yes,” on 30.5 per cent turnout.
“Tunisia has entered a new phase,” Saied told celebrating supporters ater polling closed.
“What the Tunisian people did is a lesson to the world, and a lesson to history on a scale that the lessons of history are measured on,” he said.
The US State Department said on Tuesday it noted “concerns that the new constitution includes weakened checks and balances that could compromise the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.”
And Tunisia’s National Salvation Front opposition alliance accused the electoral board of falsifying turnout figures.
NSF head Ahmed Nejib Chebbi said the figures were “inflated and don’t fit with what observers saw on the ground.”
The electoral board “isn’t honest and impartial, and its figures are fraudulent,” he said.
“Ater 10 years of disappointment and total failure in the management of state and the economy, the Tunisian people wanted to get rid of the old and take a new step -- whatever the results are,” said Noureddine Al Rezgui, a bailiff.
A poll of “yes” voters by state television suggested “reforming the country and improving the situation” along with “support for Kais Saied/his project” were their main motivations.
Thirteen per cent cited being “convinced by the new constitution.”
Rights groups have warned the drat gives vast, unchecked powers to the presidency, allows Saied to appoint a government without parliamentary approval and makes him virtually impossible to remove from office.
Said Benarbia, regional director of the International Commission of Jurists, said the new constitution would “give the president almost all powers and dismantle any check on his rule.”
“The process was opaque and illegal, the outcome is illegitimate,” he added.
Saied has repeatedly threatened his enemies in recent months, issuing video diatribes against unnamed foes he describes as “germs,” “snakes” and “traitors.”