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Fadhel Abdelkefi, leader of Afek Tounès, in Tunis, July 12, 2022. His party is demanding a no in the constitutional referendum on July 25. JIHED ABIDELLAOUI / R
Under the colors of the Tunisian flag – crescent and star on a red background – the small troupe in straw hats walks along the tram tracks towards the famous Avenue Bourguiba. This June 19, the heart of Tunis trembles with a militant crowd. “Without legislation there is no democracy,” proclaim placards waved by the demonstrators, who number no more than 2,000. The mood is rather good-natured, but the presence of the plainclothes police, who have a keen eye and light identity checks, betrays a certain official nervousness.
“Dictator, get out! » shout the pedestrians at the address of the head of state Kaïs Saïed, whose draft of a hyper-presidentialist constitution, which was submitted to the referendum on July 25, electrified the political climate in Tunisia. “People Want What You Don’t Want”, grabs the crowd in an ironic allusion to the President’s fetish formula: “Al chaab yourid” (“The people want”). The parade ends on the steps of the Art Nouveau City Theater, where other slogans – “Constitution, Freedom, Homeland”… – will ring out until the peaceful end on Sunday noon.
The head of state met only weak resistance from a disorganized political class
The demonstration followed a call from the National Salvation Front (FSN), one of the poles – which includes the Islamic conservative Ennahda Party – of a fragmented opposition to Mr Saïed. The latter inability to unite under a common banner is one of the strengths of the head of state, who, along with a real base in the poor regions of Tunisia’s interior, has so far met only tenuous resistance from a disorganized political class.
Since his July 25, 2021 coup, which saw him assume full power, Mr Saïed has easily dissolved the institutions stemming from the 2014 constitution while waiting to implement his own Basic Law by referendum. Opposite him, a partisan field broken into four centers of militancy, working in scattered order across scattered gatherings and sparse crowds, struggles to offer a credible alternative. At least at this point.
Ennahda is keeping a low profile
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