Tunis: Tunisian lawmakers rejected Islam on Saturday as the main source of law for the country that spawned the Arab Spring as they voted for a second day on a new constitution.
The voting comes amid concerns that a January 14 deadline for the new charter’s adoption may not be met because of disruptions and the slow pace of deliberations.
It was on January 14, 2011 that ousted dictator Zain Al Abidine Bin Ali and his family fled the country for exile in Saudi Arabia.
The National Constituent Assembly adopted Article 1 of the draft constitution, establishing the country as a republic and Islam as its religion but rejecting amendments that the Quran be the main source of law.
“Tunisia is a free, independent and sovereign state. Islam is its religion, Arabic is its language, and it is a republic. It is not possible to amend this article,” the article reads.
The article, a compromise between the Islamist Al Nahda party, which heads the outgoing coalition government, and the secular opposition, was adopted by 146 votes out of the 149 ballots cast.
Lawmakers rejected two amendments, one proposing Islam and the second proposing the Quran as “the principal source of legislation”.
Mohammad Hamdi of the small “Current of Love” party defended Islamic law, saying it would give “spiritual backing to all rights and liberties”.
But a secular assembly member, Mahmoud Baroudi of the Democratic Alliance, called the proposed amendments “against modernity”.
The assembly also adopted Article 2 — which again cannot be amended — on the establishment of a “civil state based on citizenship, the will of the people and the rule of law”.
Approving the new constitution would be a crucial democratic milestone.
Its adoption would end months of political crisis and further distance Tunisia from the chronic instability plaguing other countries in a region rocked by regime change.
Friday’s first session resulted in lawmakers approving the title of the charter, by 175 votes out of the 184 MPs present, and the first three paragraphs of the preamble.
They have to scrutinise the 146 articles finalised in June and some 30 key amendments.
Assembly speaker Mustafa Bin Jaafar adjourned Saturday’s session for a while after a leftist member started shouting, demanding that he be allowed to speak.
Rowdy scenes on Friday sparked concern in the press that the deadline may not be met.
Leading francophone daily La Presse cited disputes, interruptions and procedural problems.
“Tunisians who expected to see scenes of solemnity as the constitution was being discussed” were disappointed, it said, by “a wild arena in which every cheap shot is permitted”.
Arabic-language daily Attounisia said the assembly had already “wasted a lot of time writing the new constitution”.
“Other obstacles will certainly appear, making the birth of the new constitution painful,” it predicted.
The Maghreb daily retained some optimism, but also thought the deadline would come and go.
“All members of the assembly appear willing to complete ratification of the constitution in a timely manner, but political will alone may not be enough,” it said.
Elected in October 2011, the National Constituent Assembly was due to have drafted and adopted the text within one year.
But the process was heavily delayed by deep divisions between Al Nahda and the opposition, aggravated by a rise in attacks by Islamist militants and sometimes violent social unrest.
The deadlock, which became a full-blown crisis with the assassination last July of an opposition MP by suspected jihadists, paralysed political life.
Al Nahda and the opposition negotiated a series of compromises during intense negotiations aimed at securing the approval of two thirds of the assembly’s 217 elected members needed for the constitution to be adopted.
In the absence of such a majority, the new constitution will have to be put to a referendum.
Al Nahda, which has been sharply criticised for failing to rein in Tunisia’s jihadists, agreed in October to step down as part of a political road map brokered by mediators.
Prime Minister Ali Al Arayedh has said he is prepared to step down as long as the new constitution and electoral law are introduced and an electoral commission is in place so elections can be held next year.
