TUNIS: Tunisians began voting on Monday in a referendum on a new constitution that critics of President Kais Saied fear will maul the democracy that emerged from a 2011 revolution by handing him nearly total power.
The vote is being held on the first anniversary of Saied’s ousting of an elected parliament, when he established emergency rule and began governing by fiat.
Tunisia’s divided opposition parties have called his moves a coup that risks flinging Tunisia back into the autocratic era from before the revolution and putting the final nail into the coffin of the 2011 “Arab spring” uprisings.
Few people were out in the humid early morning streets, but at Rue Marseilles polling station in downtown Tunis, Illyes Moujahed was first in line, saying Saied was the only hope.
“I’m here to save Tunisia from collapse. To save it from years of corruption and failure,” he said.
It is not clear when the results will be announced after polls close at 2100 GMT, but with little apparent enthusiasm for the vote among most Tunisians and a boycott by major parties, analysts expect a ‘yes’ vote with low turnout.
Standing outside a cafe in downtown Tunis, Samir Slimane said he was not interested in voting. “I have no hope of change. Kais Saied will not change anything. He only seeks to have all the powers,” he said.
Under Saied’s own rules for the referendum, no minimum level of participation among the 9.2 million registered voters is needed to approve the new constitution. He has only stipulated the constitution will come into effect once the final results are published, and has not said what happens if voters reject it.
Saied has hailed his changes as the foundation of a new Tunisian republic to put the revolution back on course and end years of political sclerosis and economic stagnation.
However, while nearly all major political parties and civil society organizations have denounced his unilateral approach to rewriting the constitution and the legitimacy of the referendum, they have failed to build a united front.
Disunity was visible in protests against Saied in recent days. The Islamist Ennahda, the biggest party in parliament, took part in a protest on Saturday. Civil society organizations and smaller parties held one on Friday. A party that backed the pre-revolution autocracy held its own on both days.
The protests attracted only small numbers, but rallies organized by Saied supporters have also had only modest attendance and there has been little sign of excitement around the campaign.
Most Tunisians seem more focused on the dire economy and rising prices.
However, the economic decline since 2011 has left many people angry at the parties that have governed since the revolution and disillusioned with the political system they ran.
“I don’t support Saied, but I will vote ‘yes’ in the referendum because those protesting against it are the main cause of our problems for the past decade,” said Mohammed, a Tripoli resident.
Of the three parliamentary elections and two presidential elections since the revolution, the lowest turnout, of 41 percent, was in 2019 for the chamber that Saied has dissolved.
A turnout on Monday far below that rate would further call into question the legitimacy of Saied’s new constitution and his project to remake Tunisian politics.
Tunisians vote on constitution expanding president’s power
https://arab.news/v2ph2
Tunisians vote on constitution expanding president’s power
- Saied has hailed his changes as the foundation of a new Tunisian republic to put the revolution back on course
As US weighs its options with Tehran, the region awaits with anticipation
- Saudi sources deny any attempts to influence position in Washington, DC
RIYADH: The US is continuing to weigh its options toward Iran as the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln heads toward the Middle East, amid heightened tensions and widespread protests across the Islamic Republic.
The deployment, reported since late Friday, comes as Washington reiterates that all options remain on the table in its approach to Tehran, which it considers a major regional foe, with Iran’s handling of the protests as a key factor in their ongoing deliberations.
Saudi officials have rejected claims that Riyadh is attempting to influence decision-making in Washington.
A senior Saudi official at the Kingdom’s embassy in the US said that reports suggesting Saudi Arabia had advised the US against striking Iran “are not true.”
Earlier this week, Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir was asked about the unrest in Iran and the prospect of a US response during a major business conference in Riyadh.
While stopping short of offering a direct view on potential military action, Al-Jubeir said that “everybody is watching the situation very closely,” expressing hope that tensions could be resolved in a way that would “minimize any kind of damage.”
Saudi commentator Ali Shihabi also denied that Riyadh was lobbying either for or against a strike on Iran. Writing on X, he said: “Saudi Arabia did not get involved in this discussion one way or the other.”
In a separate commentary published in the Saudi daily Asharq Al-Awsat, columnist Abdulrahman Al-Rashed hinted that Iran itself now holds the key to avoiding further escalation.
“Ending the nuclear program and stopping external activity could spare Iran foreign intervention that enables internal change by exploiting widespread domestic unrest,” he argued.
Al-Rashed described the current moment as unprecedented for the Islamic Republic.
“The Iranian regime is facing an existential crisis for the first time since the founder of the Islamic Republic returned to Tehran,” he said.
“There is only one actor capable of preventing its descent, and possibly its collapse, and it is neither Washington, nor Israel, nor the Gulf states. The only party capable of saving the Iranian regime from its fate is the regime itself.”
“This time, the threats against it have converged, and together they are capable of bringing it down. Danger surrounds it both internally and externally,” he concluded.
