A month and a half after the coup of July 25, 2021, the waves of doubt and mystery are still sweeping the country in a silence as heavy as it is threatening. And this, even if, far from the pressure exerted by some foreign, political, economic or parliamentary forces, Kaïs Saïed will, in principle, be the only one to decide the nature of the political regime he intends to propose to the people. Because there is no shortage of challenges, and the same is true of threats in a very difficult political, social, health and economic context.
Time for action
After the ball of foreign delegations, rushed to Tunisia to see what is happening there, to discuss with the President of the Republic and especially to try to help Ennahda to survive and limit the damage, now it’s time for concrete things.
And it is Walid Hajjem, the advisor to the Presidency of the Republic, who has just set the tone – on a foreign television channel SVP – partially revealing some details of the future action plan of President Kaïs Saïed. According to him, the head of state has tackled the last turn, and it is very likely to see him address the Tunisian people soon and reveal the identity of the new head of government. Hajjem does not say it directly, but one can easily guess the presidential orientation regarding the nature of the future political regime: “The idea is to move towards a fairer regime that gives the powers that be able to exercise their powers as they should. We cannot continue to operate according to this regime (…) We are moving towards a presidential system.”
A constitutional struggle
Notwithstanding the bad habits of our rulers to empty their bags with the foreign media, and this is valid both for Moncef Marzouki, the former President of the Republic, Ennahda who swears by Al Jazeera and for Kaïs Saïed and his close collaborators, the main thing now is to lift the veil on this famous plan of Saïed and to embark on its realization.
This means that a new constitutional battle will soon erupt.
Will Saïed respect the current Constitution to achieve this?
Through the steps he intends to pass, does he not risk violating the 2014 Constitution?
How does he intend to compensate for the freezing of Parliament and the absence of the Constitutional Court to follow through on his intentions?
What will be the limits of action of Saïed who considers himself, today, as the only pillar of power to continue to act legally?
Fruiting popular support in a beautiful way
In fact, everything will depend on what Kaïs Saïed remembers from the popular support he enjoyed on the evening of July 25. Because taking this precious support into consideration does not mean acting in a very personal way without taking into account the aspirations of those citizens who still see in him the savior who took the reins in good time.
Moreover, the UGTT, which is thought to be close to the President of the Republic since July 25, has just recalled it, indicating the need to involve the living forces of the country in decision-making.
And if Walid Hajjem speaks of a return to the presidential regime, it does not mean that the President of the Republic has a blank check to do everything as he pleases.
Tunisians, worn out and frustrated by their rulers for a long and painful decade, are keen on this change of scenery, but it cannot take place without them being consulted or, at least, listened to and understood.
No right to fail
And then, even if Saïed is called upon to change too many things, he will not have the right to make mistakes and he must not disappoint.
For now, he has imposed on everyone a wait that is starting to get long, and the time to pick up the pace has come. We talk about September 12 and 13 to announce the new, but the main thing is to see the tenant of the palace of Carthage keep his promises and go hand in hand with the hopes of a whole people bruised by these mafias and clans who ruled the country.
The return to a presidential system is one of the good solutions, but it is still necessary to go there in compliance with the Constitution to silence the bad tongues and reassure the most pessimistic.
In a few days, there will be a lot of new and those who tremble should only lasy on themselves.
From now on, the page of the pre-25 July is turned and everything must be done so that Tunisia can move in the right direction in total autonomy and unfailing respect for the demands of an entire people.
Rifi-JDD