Tunisian Constitution of 2022

The Constitution of the Republic of Tunisia 2022, or the Third Republic Constitution, is the current constitution of Tunisia that was adopted in Tunisia on 25 July 2022 after the voters approved the constitutional referendum that was held on the same day.

As the country's supreme legal standard, it constitutes the fourth Constitution of the country's modern history after the 1861 Constitution, the 1959 Constitution and the 2014 Constitution. The Constitution entered into force on 16 August 2022.

History
On 25 July 2021, the day commemorating the declaration of the Republic, after months of tensions between the President of the Republic, Kais Saied, and members of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People, thousands of demonstrators demanded the dissolution of the parliament and the change of the regime. These gatherings come as the health crisis linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the same evening, and based on Article 80 of the 2014 Constitution, Kais Saied dismisses the Mechichi Cabinet by immediate order, in particular Hichem Mechichi from his duties as Prime Minister and Acting Minister of the Interior, freezing the activity of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People Representatives, lifting the immunity of its members, and forming a new government that will be accountable to him. Ennahdha immediately denounced the coup, as it put it. From 15 January to 20 March 2022, an electronic voting was held on the reforms to be proposed in anticipation of the referendum. During the vote, which was the subject of very low turnout, options of moving to a presidential system and informal majority voting for legislative elections prevailed.

On 1 June 2022, a decree-law was signed amending the Basic Law on Elections and Referendums. The Independent High Authority for Elections becomes responsible for maintaining an “accurate, transparent, complete and up-to-date” voter register that voters can consult to request updating their registration. In addition, the Independent High Authority for Elections should proceed with the automatic registration of all unregistered voters by distributing them to polling stations closest to their place of residence. It must also publish a list of participants in the constitutional referendum campaign after submitting data that the Independent High Electoral Commission can reject with a reasoned decision. The date of the referendum on the constitution was set for 25 July 2022, despite criticism from the opposition.

Content
At the beginning of June 2022, the jurist Sadok Belaïd, president of the advisory commission for drafting the new Constitution, indicates that he will submit the preliminary draft on 15 June to the Head of State, and that it does not contain any reference to Islam, unlike the Constitutions of 1959 and 2014. This is, however, ambiguous as to whether it deals with the country or the State. The text, unveiled on 30 June, establishes a presidential system and a bicameral parliament. The Assembly of the Representatives of the People is elected by universal suffrage, while the National Council of Regions and Districts is elected indirectly by the regional councils.

Bills tabled by the president are examined with priority. The president appoints the government without needing a vote of confidence from Parliament. For a motion of censure to be adopted, it must be voted for by two-thirds of the members of both houses of Parliament combined. Dual nationals can no longer be presidential candidates.

The president of the Constitutional Court is responsible for the presidential interim. MPs can be dismissed and a MP must not table a bill if he is a budget-eater. The president also appoints members of the Constitutional Court and Tunisia is described as a member of the "Islamic ummah" and the "State alone must work to achieve the goals of Islam." On 3 July, Belaïd announced that the text submitted to the referendum was not the one developed and presented by the commission, adding that it contained "considerable risks and failures." The Constitution can be reformed at the initiative of the president or a third of the deputies. The September 2021 decree will remain valid until the election of a new Parliament.

The Superior Council of the Judiciary is abolished and replaced by three councils for each of the three judicial orders. Regarding article 5 which is modified compared to its preliminary draft, Belaïd denounces a risk of "reconstruction of the power of religious people" and a "return to the dark ages of Islamic civilization". The President of the Republic recognized on 8 July that errors had been made and announced that he would make corrections and clarifications to the draft Constitution which were published the same evening in the Official Gazette of the Republic of Tunisia (JORT). Among the modifications made, the expression "within the framework of a democratic system" is added to article 5 in order to attenuate that of "the principles of Islam", as well as the allusion to "good morals" for limit freedoms which is withdrawn. The text published in JORT on August 17 includes modifications compared to the version submitted to the vote.

Articles
The Constitution consists of 142 articles, divided into eleven chapters.