TUNIS: The final results of a controversial referendum granting unchecked powers to the office of Tunisia’s President Kais Saied showed 94.6 percent of votes in favor, the electoral authority said Tuesday.
Voters overwhelmingly approved the new constitution, the electoral board said, officially announcing definitive results from the July 25 poll.
The charter was approved by just over 2.6 million people, the board’s president Farouk Bouasker told reporters.
Turnout was considered very low at 30.5 percent.
The referendum came a year to the day after Saied sacked the government and froze parliament in what rivals have branded a coup.
Despite the low turnout, Saied’s move against a system that emerged after the 2011 overthrow of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was welcomed by many Tunisians.
Many people were fed up with high inflation and unemployment, political turmoil and a system they felt had brought little improvement to their lives.
However, opposition politicians and human rights groups have warned of a return to dictatorship under the new constitution.
“The constitution comes into force with the announcement of the final results, its promulgation by the president and its publication in the official journal,” Bouasker said on Tuesday.
He said the fact that appeals against the referendum process had been rejected “confirmed the integrity and transparency of ISIE,” the North African country’s electoral commission.
Bouasker said ISIE had been subjected to “an unprecedented wave of allegations by certain political parties and civil society groups.”
The new text puts the president in command of the army, allows him to appoint a government without parliamentary approval and makes it virtually impossible to remove him from office.
He can also present draft laws to parliament, which will be obliged to give them priority.
A second chamber is created within parliament to represent the regions and counterbalance the assembly itself.
Tunisia is mired in crisis with growth of just three percent, nearly 40 percent of young people jobless and four million people out of a population of nearly 12 million in poverty.
For weeks the heavily indebted country has been negotiating a new loan with the International Monetary Fund, hoping to obtain $4 billion, and also the chance to open other avenues of foreign aid, mainly European.
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Tunisians firmly backed new constitution: final results
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Tunisians firmly backed new constitution: final results
- The charter was approved by just over 2.6 million people, the board's president Farouk Bouasker told reporters
- The referendum came a year to the day after Saied sacked the government and froze parliament in what rivals have branded a coup
Yemen humanitarian crisis to worsen in 2026 amid funding cuts, says UN
- Yemen has been the focus of one of the world’s largest humanitarian operations in a decade of civil war that disrupted food supplies
GENEVA: The UN warned on Monday that the humanitarian situation in Yemen is worsening and that gains made to tackle malnutrition and health would go into reverse due to funding cuts.
“The context is very concerning... We are expecting things to be much worse in 2026,” Julien Harneis, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, told reporters in Geneva.
Some 21 million people will need humanitarian assistance this year, an increase from 19.5 million the previous year, according to the UN The situation has been aggravated by economic collapse and disruption of essential services including health and education, and political uncertainty, Harneis said.
Funding Yemen traditionally received from Western countries was now being cut back, Herneis said, pointing to hopes for more help from Gulf countries.
The US slashed its aid spending this year, and leading Western donors also pared back help as they pivoted to raise defense spending, triggering a funding crunch for the UN
Yemen has been the focus of one of the world’s largest humanitarian operations in a decade of civil war that disrupted food supplies. The country has also been a source of heightened tensions in recent months between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
“Children are dying and it’s going to get worse,” Harneis said. Food insecurity is projected to worsen across the country, with higher rates of malnutrition anticipated, he stated.
“For 10 years, the UN and humanitarian organizations were able to improve mortality and improve morbidity...this year, that’s not going to be the case.”
He said Yemen’s humanitarian crisis threatened the region with diseases like measles and polio that could cross borders.
In 2025 680 million dollars was afforded to the UN in Yemen, about 28 percent of the intended target, Harneis said.
“The context is very concerning... We are expecting things to be much worse in 2026,” Julien Harneis, UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen, told reporters in Geneva.
Some 21 million people will need humanitarian assistance this year, an increase from 19.5 million the previous year, according to the UN The situation has been aggravated by economic collapse and disruption of essential services including health and education, and political uncertainty, Harneis said.
Funding Yemen traditionally received from Western countries was now being cut back, Herneis said, pointing to hopes for more help from Gulf countries.
The US slashed its aid spending this year, and leading Western donors also pared back help as they pivoted to raise defense spending, triggering a funding crunch for the UN
Yemen has been the focus of one of the world’s largest humanitarian operations in a decade of civil war that disrupted food supplies. The country has also been a source of heightened tensions in recent months between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
“Children are dying and it’s going to get worse,” Harneis said. Food insecurity is projected to worsen across the country, with higher rates of malnutrition anticipated, he stated.
“For 10 years, the UN and humanitarian organizations were able to improve mortality and improve morbidity...this year, that’s not going to be the case.”
He said Yemen’s humanitarian crisis threatened the region with diseases like measles and polio that could cross borders.
In 2025 680 million dollars was afforded to the UN in Yemen, about 28 percent of the intended target, Harneis said.
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