In Tunisia, legislative elections boycotted by the opposition and rejected by the population

First modification: 12/16/2022 – 22:28

More than ten years after the popular revolt that led to the overthrow of the regime of former autocrat Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia still shows no signs of emerging from a political crisis, which has been undermining the lives of the inhabitants of this small country for years. North African.

Almost all the parties in opposition to President Kaïs Said have called for a boycott of the legislative elections scheduled for Saturday, December 17. Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, head of the “Front de salut national”, the main opposition alliance, reported that the bloc would not recognize Saturday’s results.

The elections “will further plunge the country into a political crisis,” Chebbi told reporters in Tunis on Thursday.

The opposition denounces the elections as a blow against the only democracy that emerged from the 2011 “Arab Spring” riots. The election of the new 161-seat assembly comes after Said froze the previous legislature on July 25, 2021, after months of a deep political crisis aggravated by the coronavirus pandemic. Said then dissolved Parliament, dominated for years by the Islamist Ennahdha party (now part of the opposition coalition “Front de salut national”).

On Wednesday, the head of state again defended his decision, saying it was the will of the Tunisian people. “The country was on the brink of civil war,” he told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington. In fact, Said had enjoyed strong popular support after making this decision, which earned him harsh international criticism. A large part of Tunisians, fed up with a Parliament considered dysfunctional, responsible for the economic crisis and incapable of managing the coronavirus crisis, had then supported the president’s decision. But since then, many consider his situation to have hardly improved.

From a presidential-parliamentary system to a presidential system

The former Tunisian legislature had broad powers under a mixed presidential-parliamentary system enshrined in the constitution following the 2011 popular uprising.

But last July, Said took advantage of a hotly contested referendum to pass a new constitution that stripped Parliament of any real weight and gave his own office almost unlimited powers.

The jurist who had supervised the drafting of the new constitution then declared that the version published by Said had been modified in a way that could lead to a “dictatorial regime”. Under pressure, the president subsequently published another slightly modified text.

Consequently, future deputies will only have limited powers. They will not be able to control the action of the government or censor it and they will not have the power to put an end to the mandate of the President of the Republic. Lastly, they should give priority consideration to bills submitted directly by the president’s cabinet.

A “Residue of Parliament”

Analyst Hamadi Redissi told the AFP news agency that the goal of Saturday’s vote was to “complete the process started on July 25” last year. The resulting Parliament “will not have many powers.”

In addition, the new system proposed by Said abolishes political parties and electoral lists, which means that candidates will be chosen as individuals, without any declared political affiliation. The vote is intended to “increase the legitimacy of the presidency,” Redissi estimates, insisting that the result would be “a residue of Parliament.”

With the opposition boycotting, the future assembly – which is not expected to be constituted until the spring of next year – is also likely to be highly fragmented.

Most of the 1,058 candidates are unknown and there are few posters on the walls of the capital, Tunis, or in the country’s other big cities. Retirees, housewives, people without work: approximately one in six candidates has no declared activity, according to the Tunisian Observatory for Democratic Transition, while the rest mostly come from public service and education. The few figures who have political experience are deputies from the previous parliament, left-wing activists or personalities who support the president. Just over a hundred women are candidates.

A situation that “goes from bad to worse”

On the streets, on the eve of the elections, a small protest against Kaïs Said was heard on Wednesday, December 10; led by various opposition parties. Opponents continue to denounce the hardening of the system and the political uncertainty that reigns in the country. But these elections are not only rejected by the opposition. Tunisian voters are apathetic and very few of the nine million registered voters are expected to go to the polls.

Several young people told the AFP news agency that they were not interested in these elections and did not want to know more about the candidates. Indeed, the Tunisian population is much more concerned about the cost of living, the lack of basic necessities and the economic crisis, than about the elections.

Marwa Ben Miled, a 53-year-old trader, told AFP that the situation in the country “was going from bad to worse.” “I’m not interested in what’s going on in the political scene,” she acknowledged. “I don’t trust anyone.”

In addition, an election law signed by Said in the fall prohibits candidates from speaking to the foreign press, an imposition that the North African Foreign Correspondents Club says makes the job of journalists more difficult. In case of not respecting it, the electoral law provides for sanctions ranging from fines to ineligibility.

AFP, Local media