TUNIS —
Tunisian President Kais Saied confirmed Tuesday that a draft constitution to be
put to a referendum on July 25 will not enshrine Islam as the “religion of the
state”.
اضافة اعلان
“The next
constitution of
Tunisia won’t mention a state with Islam as its religion, but
of belonging to an umma (community) which has Islam as its religion,” he told
journalists at Tunis airport.
“The umma and the
state are two different things.”
Saied took
delivery of the draft text on Monday, a key step in his drive to overhaul the
Tunisian state after he sacked the government and seized far-reaching powers
last July in moves opponents called a coup.
Sadeq Belaid, the
legal expert who headed the drafting committee, had told AFP in an interview
this month that he would remove all reference to Islam from the new document in
a challenge to Islamist parties.
His comments,
partly referring to Saied’s nemesis Ennahdha, an Islamist-inspired party which
has dominated Tunisian politics since 2011, sparked a heated national debate.
The first article
of Tunisia’s 2014 constitution — and its 1959 predecessor — defined the North
African country as “a free, independent and
sovereign state. Islam is its
religion and Arabic is its language”.
The 2014 document
was the product of a hard-won compromise between Ennahdha and its secular
rivals three years after the revolt that overthrew dictator Zine El Abidine Ben
Ali.
The new text, produced
through a “national dialogue” excluding opposition forces and boycotted by the
powerful
UGTT trades union confederation, is meant to be approved by Saied by
the end of June before being put to voters next month.
That is a year
after the former constitutional law professor sacked the government, later
consolidating his power grab by dissolving parliament and seizing control of
the judiciary.
His moves have
been welcomed by some Tunisians tired of the corrupt and often chaotic
post-revolutionary system, but others have warned he is returning the country
to autocracy.
Saied has long
called for a presidential system that avoids the frequent deadlock seen under
the mixed parliamentary-presidential system.
Asked about that
issue on Tuesday, he said: “Whether the system is presidential or parliamentary
is not the question.
“What counts is
that the people have sovereignty. There’s the legislative function, the
executive function and the judicial function, and separation between them.”
Read more Region and World
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
