Tunisian President Kais Saied has celebrated a near-certain yes victory in a referendum on a new constitution that gives him sweeping powers and risks a return to authoritarian rule in the cradle of the Arab Spring.
The preliminary results of the vote, held a year after the day after Saied dismissed the government and froze the parliament in what rivals have described as a coup d’état, were to be presented this Tuesday afternoon, with a full count not expected until next month. However, according to an exit poll conducted by the Sigma Conseil institute, an overwhelming 92-93% of those who voted on Monday supported the new constitution.
After the expected result was announced on national television, Saied’s supporters drove cars in a procession through central Tunis, waving flags and honking horns, some singing the national anthem or shouting “We sacrifice our souls and our blood for you, Saied!”
Around 2 a.m. local time on Tuesday, the president appeared before a jubilant crowd.
“Tunisia has entered a new phase,” he said, according to local television, adding that “there was a lot of turnout at the polling stations and the rate would have been higher if voting was held over two days.”
Without naming them, the president promised that “all those who have committed crimes against the country will be held accountable for their actions.”
Only about a third of the 9.3 million registered voters cast ballots, Tunisia’s electoral commission ISIE said, showing widespread apathy with the political process. Still, turnout was higher than many observers expected, suggesting that Saied continues to enjoy personal popularity nearly three years into his term.
Tunisia’s main opposition alliance accused the electoral board of falsifying turnout figures on Tuesday. Ahmed Nejib Chebbi, head of the National Salvation Front which includes Saied’s main rivals, said the numbers were “inflated and do not match what observers saw on the ground” in Tunisia.
The president took control of ISIE in April, giving himself the authority to appoint three of the commission’s seven members, including its head.
Saied’s critics have warned that the new constitution would block presidential powers that could return Tunisia to dictatorship.
The new text would place the president in command of the army, allow him to appoint a government without parliamentary approval and make it virtually impossible to remove him from office.
He could also submit bills to parliament, which would be obliged to give them priority.
Election officials count the ballots. President Saied is likely to cement a new constitution that will give him more control over a country he has ruled by decree since suspending parliament a year ago. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
The referendum generated few repercussions in a region still regrouping after a decade of direct challenges to the foundations of its autocracies, sparking a wave of hope that citizens, rather than autocrats, could shape to their own destinies.
As revolutions were toppled by a military coup in Egypt, by Saudi intervention in Bahrain, and ultimately by Gulf support for the Syrian government, Tunisia was seen as the last hope among moves to restore the contract between citizen and state and redefine what politics was like. made in the Middle East.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have emerged as supporters of Saied, who now appears to have a clear path to transform the country’s governance from a hybrid parliamentary system to a presidential model that gives him similar control over the country. a vice
“Although Tunisia was on the right track of political reform, economic challenges coupled with corruption had been ringing alarm bells long before Saied’s presidency. A power grab was their response to the challenges,” said Nancy Okail, human rights advocate and director general of the Center for International Policy.
“The regional dynamic 11 years later is certainly not promising,” he added. “The transactional relationship between the West and the region, prioritizing oil, with a narrow view of security and normalizing relations with autocrats only makes things worse.”
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Many voters seemed oblivious to the content of the referendum, or were unconcerned about the broad powers it granted to the country’s president. Apathy and fatigue had become a constant in Tunisia’s political discourse, which had been beset by corruption and economic problems throughout several democratically elected governments.
While many see Saied’s moves as a nail in the coffin of the Arab Spring, other observers say change on this scale needs a generational and historical perspective.
“Of course, today’s referendum in Tunisia is a setback for the entrenchment of a democratic culture in Tunisia,” said HA Hellyer, a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “But the history of revolutionary change around the world is like this: one step forward, one step back, etc. Tunisia, and frankly the Arab world, is no different.
Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report