Soufian Toubal, a member of the National Assembly in the Nidaa Tounes bloc announced that his party was in the consultations with experts within the legal committee of the assembly to amend laws 32 and 33, in order to grant more prerogatives to the Presidency. Toubal explained that amending the laws concerning the appointment of high ranking posts would bring the security sector under the president’s range of prerogatives. The announcement stirred the political and civil society community and put Beji Caid Essebsi and both Nidaa Tounes and its ally in the parliament Ennahdha on the defensive. Constitutional law experts and figures of the 2011 Constituent Assembly such as Al-Arabi Abid reacted publically, and criticised the plan, especially that there remain a number of institutions introduced by the 2014 Constitution that have not been even established yet. Other critics saw in the move an attempt by the majority to by-pass the political consensus established by the National Dialogue and its outputs. The reaction of the legal, political, and civil society communities to the amendment plans of Nidaa Tounes, coupled with a state of social malaise and disapproval of the performance of Habib Esid’s government appear to have compelled President Caid Essebsi to call a press interview for BBC Arabic, in which he denied any plans to amend the constitution. Essebsi, however, seized the opportunity to bring his support to Habib Esid describing him as a competent prime minister. This public show of support did not, however, quell journalists and observers from criticising Esid’s performance. Essebsi also received Houcine Abbassi, leader of the UGTT labour union, as well as Rached Ghanouchi, separately in order to shore social stability.
It seems that the constitution amendment plan of Nidaa Tounes has been put aside for now, but it is not certain that there won’t be attempts to open the discussion again, should circumstances change. Mouhcen Merzouk’s Tunisia Project Party is in disarray after the recent Panama Papers revelations and the resignation of some figures in his party, as well as the troubles Afak Tounes is going through. Nidaa Tounes supported by Ennahdha continue to dominate the political scene and hold the de facto majority in the parliament. Ennahdha itself does not hide its criticism of the current distribution of powers between the executive and the presidency. Lotfi Zeitoun, a leader in Ennahdha, published an op-ed in which he argued there is a need to end the constitutional confusion in terms of powers and either adopt the parliamentarian or presidential system.
Links for more information:
http://www.zoomtunisia.tn/article/top/33142.html (Soufian Toubal announcement on Shams FM, Arabic)
La révision constitutionnelle à travers le monocle de Nejib Chebbi
http://lapresse.tn/17042016/113268/il-ny-a-pas-de-crise-au-sein-du-gouvernement-essid
http://kapitalis.com/tunisie/2016/04/16/caid-essebsi-essid-est-a-la-hauteur
http://lapresse.tn/18042016/113326/fracture-entre-le-pays-reel-et-le-pays-virtuel
http://www.radioexpressfm.com/lire/fatma-mseddi-annonce-sa-demission
