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Ex-Tunisia FM: referendum will make Saied weaker than Ben Ali

July 21, 2022 at 5:59 pm

Former Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem on December 3, 2012 [FAROUK BATICHE/AFP via Getty Images]

The former Tunisian Foreign Minister and a leader in the Ennahda Movement, Rafik Abdessalem, expects that the referendum on the new constitution on 25 July would put Tunisian President, Kais Saied, in a weaker position. He said that the Ennahda Movement and the anti-coup forces will continue to confront him and they are not afraid of arrest campaigns despite the attempt to “utilise the judiciary in political files”.

In an interview with Arabi 21, Abdessalem said: “Most likely, there will be a boycott (to the referendum), and it will be wide-ranging, while the participation rate will be very low and, at best, it will not exceed ten per cent. Therefore, this constitution will not have any popular legitimacy.”

He added: “Kais Saied acts according to the policy of fait accompli; he will appear in the morning of 26 July to say that the people have approved the constitution and will adopt it as a general rule and reference, but it will not be accepted and generally approved by the people”, as he put it.

Abdessalem considered that the constitution would remain a “dead letter at the end”; he said that “the majority of political forces have boycotted and called for the boycott of this referendum, and there are other opposition parties that have called to vote ‘no’. However, our assessment is that there are no guarantees, and voting ‘no’, may be converted to ‘yes’.”

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