The person in charge of drafting Tunisia’s proposed new constitution has slammed the president’s recently released final version as unsafe.
Local media cites Sadok Belaid, a former professor of constitutional law, as claiming that several chapters would pave the path for an autocratic government.
President Kais Saied had tasked him with reforming Tunisia’s constitution, but he claimed that the version that will be up for a vote in four weeks did not reflect the first proposal made by his team.
He said that the released draft “included risks of substantial hazards, in particular the erasure and distortion of Tunisian identity” in a letter that was published by the newspaper Assabah, which is majorly controlled by the government.
A supreme judicial body would be appointed by the president under the new system, which he also criticized for reducing the independence of the court.
The influential UGTT trade union has also denounced the manifesto as a potential danger to democracy.
A referendum on the proposed constitution will be held on the 25th of July, 2022.
