A new text published this Friday, April 22 at Official newspaper Tunisian indicates that the upcoming elections in Tunisia will be supervised by a body whose members will be appointed by the president himself.
With our correspondent in Tunis, Amira Souilem
The name remains, but that’s about it. The Independent High Authority for Elections (Isie) is maintained, but its members will be replaced to make room for people appointed directly by Carthage.
Until now, Isie had both magistrates, bailiffs and lawyers appointed by their peers and by Parliament. A dissolved Parliament since Kaïs Saïed took full power last July.
Set up after the revolution to put an end to the control of elections by the Ministry of the Interior, this body was one of the great achievements of post-revolutionary Tunisia. From now on, the seven members, including magistrates or a computer engineer, will be appointed by presidential decree.
What checks and balances remain in Tunisia?
The decision comes as Tunisia prepares to vote for legislative elections next December. The current president of Isie, Nabil Baffoun, let his anger explode live on Tunisian radio: I sincerely think that we can say that this body is now a presidential body. The notion of independence has completely jumped. He has already warned that he would not resign and that Kais Saïed had only to dismiss him from his post to set up this body supposed to be under his orders.
The question that many Tunisians are asking themselves today: in the face of increasingly extensive presidential powers, are there still checks and balances in Tunisia?
► Read also : Moncef Marzouki: “Kaïs Saïed is in the process of liquidating all the achievements of the revolution” in Tunisia
Several checks and balances, including Parliament, have indeed fallen one by one. According to the president of Isie, these decisions would serve a presidential project of grabbing power in the long term. ” Today, we have no means of stopping this fatality. The Independent Higher Authority for Elections will have new members appointed for four years when we all know that a presidential election will take place in 2024. In the next presidential election, Kaïs Saïed will be both in the field, the referee and goalkeeper of the opposing camp, predicts Nabil Baffoun. He has all the powers in hand today. Even that of Isia. »
There remain the Tunisian press and civil society who fear that their turn will not end up coming.