Tunisia: president pledges to restore sovereignty as soon as possible

Tunisian President Kais Saied has pledged to “restore sovereignty to the people as soon as possible so that the term sovereignty will not be just an abandoned word in the text of the constitution.” Saied made his comments during a meeting with the head of the Tunisian Union of Industry, Trade, and Handicrafts (UTICA), and a number of its executive members late on Saturday evening.

“Sovereignty is for the people, not for those who sell illusions or who have mastered slander and fallacies,” he insisted. “Those whose consciences were bought off, if ever they had a conscience… do not know sovereignty at all. They do not know the difference between state sovereignty and sovereignty in the state… [The former] means independence in decision-making and sovereignty in the state belongs to the source of sovereignty, which is the Tunisian people.”

The president did not announce any other details or discuss the measures he intends to take after activating Article 80 of the constitution on 25 July and taking a number of exceptional decisions that have since been extended for an indefinite period.

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