TUNIS: Tunisian President Kais Saied threatened on Monday to suspend the country’s membership of the Venice Commission and expel its representatives, after it published a report criticizing his plan to hold a referendum on a new constitution.
Said pledged earlier this month to move forward with a proposal for a referendum on July 25 to replace the country’s democratic 2014 constitution, ignoring opposition calls to reverse the controversial decision.
The move has added to growing internal and external criticism that he has entrenched one-man rule since he seized control of executive power last summer, dissolved parliament, and began ruling by decree.
The report issued this month by the Venice Commission, a panel of experts of the human rights body Council of Europe, said it was unrealistic to hold a credible referendum in the absence of clear and pre-established rules.
It added that changing the electoral law should be preceded by a “broad consultation of political forces and civil society” in order to reach a consensus.
Saied this month named a law professor to head an advisory committee including law and political science deans, to draft a new constitution for a “new republic,” excluding political parties from the restructure of the political system.
Tunisia’s main political parties said they will boycott the unilateral restructuring of politics. University deans have also refused to join the panel.
The powerful UGTT union refused to take part in a limited dialogue proposed by Saied as part of the process. It said it would hold a national strike at state firms and public services. “If necessary, we must end our membership in the Venice Commission, they are persona non grata in Tunisia,” Saied said on Monday.
“Blatant interference is unacceptable,” he added.
The Venice Commission said in its report that elections for a new parliament should be held before any referendum.
Saied’s opponents accuse him of a coup that has undermined the democratic gains of the 2011 revolution that triggered the Arab spring, but he says his moves were legal and needed to save Tunisia from a prolonged political crisis.
Tunisian president slams Venice Commission over report on constitutional referendum
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Tunisian president slams Venice Commission over report on constitutional referendum
- Saied this month named a law professor to head an advisory committee including law and political science deans, to draft a new constitution for a “new republic,” excluding political parties from the restructure of the political system
Seven killed in drone strike on Sudan hospital: medical source
- Dilling, in the flashpoint state of South Kordofan, is controlled by the Sudanese army but has been under siege by rival paramilitary forces
- Sunday’s strike comes a day after a drone strike on a UN peacekeeping base killed six Bangladeshi troops in the similarly besieged South Kordofan state capital of Kadugli
PORT SUDAN: A drone strike Sunday on an army hospital in the besieged southern Sudan city of Dilling left “seven civilians dead and 12 injured,” a health worker at the facility told AFP.
The victims included patients and their companions, the medic said on condition of anonymity, explaining that the army hospital “serves the residents of the city and its surroundings, in addition to military personnel.”
Dilling, in the flashpoint state of South Kordofan, is controlled by the Sudanese army but has been under siege by rival paramilitary forces.
Since April 2023, the army has been at war with the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), who control swathes of the greater Kordofan region along with their allies, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) faction led by Abdelaziz Al-Hilu.
Sunday’s strike comes a day after a drone strike on a United Nations peacekeeping base killed six Bangladeshi troops in the similarly besieged South Kordofan state capital of Kadugli, some 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Dilling.
According to the UN, civilians in Dilling are suffering famine conditions, but a lack of access to data has prevented an official declaration.
Across the country, the war has killed tens of thousands of people, displaced 12 million and created the world’s largest hunger and displacement crises.
