Tunisian President Kais Syed said on Tuesday that Islam would not be the “state religion” in a new constitution he would put to a referendum on July 25.
Saeed told reporters at the Tunis airport, “God willing, in the forthcoming Tunisian constitution, we will not talk about a state that practices Islam, but rather we talk about a nation that practices Islam, and a nation is different from a state.”
On Monday, the Tunisian president received a new draft constitution, which he must approve before being put to a referendum on July 25, the first anniversary of the country’s assumption of full powers.
Sadiq Belaid, coordinator of the National Consultative Body for the drafting of the constitution of the “new republic” in Tunisia, said in an interview with Agence France-Presse on June 6 that he would submit a draft constitution to President Kais Said. a constitution that would not include a reference to Islam as the state religion, in order to counter parties that invoke Islam in the spirit of the Nahda movement, which has caused controversy in the country. The first chapter of the first chapter of the General Principles of the 2014 Constitution states that “Tunisia is a free, independent and sovereign State whose religion is Islam, whose language is Arabic and whose system is the Republic.” The new constitution is to replace the 2014 constitution, which established a mixed system that has been a source of frequent conflict between the executive and legislative branches.
The opposition and human rights organizations accuse Saed of seeking to adopt a text that meets his aspirations. Asked about the nature of the state system to be adopted by the new constitution, the Tunisian president said: “It is not a question of a presidential or parliamentary system. The important thing is that sovereignty belongs to the people. positions, not power. “There is legislative work, executive work, judicial work, as well as segregation of jobs,” he added.
