July 30 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The charge d’affaires of the United States Embassy in Tunisia, Natasha Franceschi, was summoned this past Friday night to the Foreign Ministry to receive a protest in rejection of the doubts expressed by the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on the validity of the recent constitutional referendum, designed to consolidate the power of the president, Kais Saied.
Blinken said on Friday that Washington “shares the concerns” expressed by the position on the proposed new Constitution, approved in a referendum, and stressed that “it could weaken democracy” in the African country, before recalling that the May 25 referendum “was marked by low voter turnout.”
“We share the concerns expressed by many Tunisians that the process of drafting the new constitution limited the framework for genuine debate and also that the new constitution could weaken Tunisian democracy and erode respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms” , has held.
In response, the Foreign Ministry, in a note picked up by the Mosaique FM station, lamented that Blinken’s comments “are statements that do not respect the rules and bases of the Vienna agreement on diplomatic relations.
The head of the portfolio, Othmen Jerandi, directly expressed Tunisia’s “astonishment” to the person in charge at these statements, which do not “reflect the reality of the situation” in the country, “where efforts have been made since 25 July 2021”, the date on which Saied began to arrogate new powers to himself in what his critics have described as a self-coup, “to restructure political life”.
“Reforms”, says the minister, “carried out in record time, which aim to build a true democratic regime, based on justice, equality and human rights enshrined in the new Constitution and which meet the expectations of the Tunisian people” .
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