“I boycott.” Sana Benachour has made her choice. She will not participate in the constitutional referendum: “I don’t want to give it democratic legitimacy.” This “him” she is talking about is the Tunisian President, Kaïs Saïed: he calls on Tunisians to vote on Monday July 25 to approve or not a new Constitution for the country.
>> Tunisia: why the new Constitution proposed by President Kaïs Saïed poses a problem
The text will give vast prerogatives to the Head of State, marking a break with the hybrid parliamentary system established in 2014. Last summer, Kaïs Saïed had already granted himself all the powers over Tunisia, which he now directs by decrees .
“I know that everything is loaded, everything is loadedcontinues this Tunisian. Its independent body is the non-independent body for elections. It really is a scandal. We don’t want to live like the subjects of a king. We want to be equal, free, dignified citizens. And we are able to do it sooner or later.”
“We will end up ousting him like all the others. We will give him a ‘clear’, a famous and a formidable ‘clear’!”
Sana Benachour
Samy, he will go to vote. Nostalgic for the Ben Ali era, he dreams of finding a leader capable of bringing back order and wealth. And nothing in the new Constitution scares him. He doesn’t see”no dictatorship here” and assures that, “anyway, democracy does not work in Tunisia“: “The important thing for the country is to have a strong man capable of implementing the necessary reforms.“
A hope for change
Mohamed will also go to vote. In the ballot box, he will put a “yes” ballot, to turn the page of the Revolution and to give the president a chance to succeed, he says, where the others have failed: “I’m going to vote for change, I’m not voting for Saïed, it’s not for the president, but for change. A new change, since the old one didn’t work.“
The Tunisian continues:It didn’t work with Ben Ali. It didn’t work with Ennahda and company. We change ! We change ! We are here to change.“The official result of this referendum is not expected before the end of August.
Referendum on the Constitution in Tunisia: the report by Nathanaël Charbonnier
