Tunisia Votes on President’s Power as Democracy Seen Dying
(Bloomberg) -- Tunisians vote on a new constitution Monday that would enshrine in law President Kais Saied’s accumulation of sweeping powers, as rivals accuse him of extinguishing a rare democracy in the Arab world.
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Around 9 million people are eligible to take part, with polling stations closing at 10 p.m. Preliminary results may be announced as early as Tuesday. With some opponents calling for a boycott and only Saied loyalists enthused by the referendum, the proposals are likely to pass.
The divisive ballot comes a year to the day since Saied dissolved parliament and dismissed the prime minister. Those steps were initially welcomed by many Tunisians fed up with feuding politicians and hardship, but enthusiasm has waned as authorities failed to deliver a better life.
While he’s hoping to put a popular stamp on his rule, a low turnout could embolden opponents the president must win over in order to rescue the heavily-indebted economy with an International Monetary Fund bailout.
Having ruled by decree since last year, Saied wants to dismantle a 2014 constitution painstakingly stitched together following Tunisia’s Arab Spring revolt more than a decade ago. Proposals drafted by a panel he picked boost presidential executive powers and severely dilute those of a re-jigged legislative branch and the judiciary. The president will nominate a prime minister.
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In televised comments after voting began, Saied again vowed that the new charter would lay the foundations of a new republic unshackled from wrangling and corrupt politicians, accusing unidentified domestic and foreign forces of trying to bring the country down. His supporters are upbeat.
“We still trust the president will build a people’s state, not a state of mafias and corrupt people,” said Zouhair Maghzaoui, leader of the People’s Movement Party, which is close to Saied.
Bread, Debt and Politics Whip Up Volatile Mix in Tunisia
To his critics, including the powerful UGTT labor union and once-banned Islamists in the Ennahda party that became a major political force after the uprising, the president’s dragging Tunisia back to the kind of one-man rule it discarded in 2011.
They accuse Saied -- the surprise winner of 2019’s presidential election on an anti-establishment ticket -- of endeavoring to erase the democratic gains of the revolt by capitalizing on growing frustration among Tunisians over their deteriorating economic fortunes.
Times are indeed tough. Central bank officials have warned the Ukraine war is causing greater turmoil than the pandemic as inflation hits its highest since 2018, calling for an import curb to protect foreign reserves and ensure the country can afford crucial grains, fuel and medicine.
With debt amounting to 87% of gross domestic product, Tunisia’s third on a Bloomberg ranking of nations most vulnerable to default, behind only El Salvador and Ghana.
The government is in talks with the IMF for a rescue package, but to get a deal it most likely needs to first win consensus support at home for a package of spending cuts and other austerity measures.
That may become harder if Saied’s mandate is undermined by most Tunisians not voting on Monday, said Hamza Meddeb, a non-resident scholar at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center.
Polling stations in the capital, Tunis, remained quiet by mid-morning Monday.
Mohammed ben Jomma, a 55-year-old teacher, was among those on the city’s central Avenue Habib Bourguiba refusing to participate in what he described as a “farce.”
“This referendum is a new path to establish another era of tyranny and injustice,” he said.
Low turnout would “weaken the popularity” of Saied, who hasn’t been able to address mounting economic problems despite monopolizing decision-making for a year, Meddeb said.
A ‘yes’ vote will most likely lead Tunisia to “a new cycle of conflict” as opponents “coalesce around rejecting the 2022 constitution,” he said.
(Updates with comment from Saied, boycotter starting in sixth paragraph.)
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