Tunisia's new parliament plays by Saied's rules

On 13 March, Tunisia inaugurated a new legislative assembly for the first time since President Kais Saied suspended the previous chamber, sacked the prime minister and claimed sweeping powers in the summer of 2021.

The deputies were chosen in elections held in December and January that were largely snubbed by the masses, with a voter turnout of just 11%. Most political parties boycotted the polls, believing that the electoral process originated by Saied was designed to consolidate his one-man rule over the country.

Local private and international media were not allowed to attend the opening session of the incoming parliament, the first ban since the revolution that toppled long-time dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.

The new assembly is supposed to have 161 members, but only 154 seats were elected in the two-round legislative vote as the elections saw no candidates run in seven electoral districts abroad, reflecting widespread political apathy.

"With the legislature holding very little powers, opponents say it will function as a subordinate body that green-lights decree laws introduced by the presidency"

There are just 25 female representatives among the current members. No party member is represented. The new MPs are mostly independent, though their political leanings remain unclear. The rest are members of political parties and groupings that support Saied’s project.

Since most of the new parliamentary members are independents, observers believe this could result in the fragmentation of the chamber.

The newly convened parliament will have reduced prerogatives compared with the previous body, and will operate under the constitution that President Saied pushed through in a referendum last year - with a 30% participation rate - that granted himself near unlimited power, and greatly reduced parliament's influence and oversight.

In the new system, the president cannot be impeached and he unilaterally appoints the prime minister and the cabinet, and the government would answer to the head of state and not the parliament. Bills that the president puts forward will be given greater priority than those of other lawmakers.

With the legislature holding very little powers, opponents say it will function as a subordinate body that green-lights decree laws introduced by the presidency.

“It will be a rubber-stamp parliament. It doesn’t have any real power or role to play,” Radwan Masmoudi, head of the US-based Centre for Research of Islam and Democracy (CSID), told The New Arab.

Stressing the absence of opposition within the legislative chamber, he noted that even those parliamentarians who may not support the president’s actions would “not dare to criticise him” fearing dismissal or, worse, imprisonment.

The main opposition coalition, the National Salvation Front, declared that it would not recognise the new parliament, deeming it devoid of legitimacy due to the very low participation in the double election tour.

The inauguration of the new lower house is the latest stage in the political roadmap outlined by President Saied after he announced his exceptional measures on 25 July 2021, and began a series of moves he said were needed to save Tunisia from years of crisis amid growing discontent with the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party that held the most seats in the old parliament.

Since then, the Tunisian leader has ruled by decree and moved to pass a new constitution that removes checks and balances on the executive, weakens the parliament, and firmly concentrates powers in the presidency by giving it enhanced authority over the judiciary and the legislature.

More recently, he dissolved the elected municipal councils, seen as a key democratic gain after the revolution in 2011, with most of the representatives coming from the opposition to Saied whose mandate would have expired in late April. The local councils were the last effective branch of government where political parties retained a presence.

After further dismantling the democratic institutions developed after the 2011 uprising, Tunisia’s president has formally taken his country from the post-revolutionary hybrid parliamentary-presidential system into the age of hyper-presidentialism.

"Tunisia's president has formally taken his country from the post-revolutionary hybrid parliamentary-presidential system into the age of hyper-presidentialism"

The installation of the House of Representatives comes in the midst of a mounting crackdown on opposition, independent media and other voices critical of Saied. The campaign of repression most recently targeted African migrants in the country after the chief of state called for “urgent measures" to counter "illegal" migration of African nationals.

Shortly after the inaugural session, the European Parliament overwhelmingly adopted a resolution on 16 March condemning the ongoing attacks against freedom of expression, association and trade unions in Tunisia.

Members of the European Parliament urged Tunisian authorities to free Noureddine Boutar, head of Tunisia's independent radio station Mosaique FM, and all others arbitrarily detained, including ​​journalists, judges, lawyers, political activists and trade unionists.

EU Parliament members also demanded the suspension of EU support programmes to Tunisia’s ministries of Justice and Interior Affairs over the deteriorating human rights outlook in the North African country, at a time when more than 20 political figures have been arrested in recent weeks amid the clampdown on dissent.

It was the first strong stance taken by the EU body since Kais Saied froze parliament in 2021.

Rasmus Alenius Boserup, executive director of EuroMed Rights, welcomed the resolution as an “interesting political signal” coming in the midst of what he qualified as, “extremely worrying processes” that are ongoing in Tunisia.

Yet, a statement of condemnation is not sufficient if it’s not followed by actions, as the EU is still keen on maintaining cooperation with Tunisia while EU member states appear divided between those pushing for a strong stance and others, namely Italy, for whom it is necessary to support Tunisia fearing that increasing instability could drive up migration.

“It seems that many European countries still want to offer economic assistance to this regime, which has lost legitimacy,” Masmoudi said. “In the end, that will be supporting dictatorship,” he added, insisting on the need to return to democratic governance to avoid Tunisia’s collapse.

“What’s happening in Tunisia is such a blatant deviation from the track that the EU has supported,” Boserup told The New Arab. What the executive branches of the EU will decide to do in the face of the country’s worsening human rights situation, he added, remains to be seen.

Observers claim that the European Parliament’s resolution will not have an effect on EU-Tunisia relations, as calls for support to Tunisia in halting immigration across the Mediterranean multiply.

"'It seems that many European countries still want to offer economic assistance to this regime, which has lost legitimacy'"

Days after the EU Parliament passed its motion, the bloc’s foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell described the country’s situation as “dire” speaking at an EU foreign ministers' meeting last Monday where Tunisia was set to be high on the agenda. He voiced alarm over its “economic and social collapse” sending more migrants to Europe.

Ahead of the Foreign Ministers Council’s meeting, four international human rights groups urged in a joint letter called on EU ministers to press Tunisian authorities, “to reverse their crackdown against perceived critics” and “critically review their cooperation with Tunisia to avoid contributing to the ongoing undermining of human rights and of the independence of the judiciary.”

Still, within hours of Borrell’s statements, a small EU delegation made a visit to Tunis to assess "the political and socio-economic situation" and discuss cooperation over irregular migration.

Alessandra Bajec is a freelance journalist currently based in Tunis.

Follow her on Twitter: @AlessandraBajec