Newly elected and already under pressure? As they took up residence at the Bardo Palace on Monday, March 13, the Tunisian deputies were sharply warned by President Kaïs Saïed: the people, recalled the Head of State from Ghardimaou, a locality close to the Algerian border, can now dismiss its representatives “after one year” of mandate. It is enough for this that a tenth of the electorate of a constituency is mobilised. “We are writing a new page in history, [the deputies] must get rid of the mentality that prevailed for more than ten years,” insisted the strong man of the country.

The new Constitution, tailor-made by Kaïs Saïed to endow himself with extended powers, has drastically reduced the room for maneuver of parliamentarians. Several articles allow the President of the Republic to dissolve the Assembly of People’s Representatives (ARP), to govern by decree or to assume full powers without time limit and without supervision by independent institutions. The control of the government by the Parliament is also limited, even anecdotal.

In addition to the influence exercised by the executive, elected officials may be subject to legal pressure for offenses of opinion or in the exercise of their functions. The immunity granted to them is relative and does not concern “offences of insult, defamation and exchange of violence committed inside or outside the Assembly. [The deputy] also does not benefit from it in the event that he hinders the regular functioning of the Assembly ”, specifies the Constitution ratified by referendum in July 2022, with a participation of 30.5% of registered voters.

Forbidden to journalists

Scene revealing the new political climate which reigns in Tunisia: with the exception of the state media, no journalist was able to enter the enclosure on Monday to attend the inaugural session. A first since the 2011 revolution. To protest against these measures, a group of journalists expressed their disagreement in front of the metal barriers erected at the entrance to Parliament. A large police force has been deployed around the building to replace the military vehicles which have blocked access since the coup by Kaïs Saïed in July 2021.

During this first session, the deputies elected as president of the ARP Brahim Bouderbala, former president of the bar association. A fervent defender of Kaïs Saïed’s coup and the “July 25 process”, he had participated in the spring of 2022 in the “national advisory commission for a new Republic” supposed to develop a draft Constitution. During his inaugural speech, Bouderbala reaffirmed his support for the current political process and his willingness to work “constructively” with the executive. While calling on foreign investors and tourists to visit Tunisia, he said he wanted to “reassure all citizens and foreigners in a regular situation” – referring to the controversy sparked by the February 21 statements by the President of the Republic to the against nationals of sub-Saharan Africa.

Despite this strong support, Kaïs Saïed is not guaranteed to have a majority in his favour. Many have presented themselves as “independents” without their background or political orientation being known. The Tunisian news site Al Qatiba has identified around thirty deputies (out of 154) who have clearly displayed their affiliation or support for the president’s project.

“A cardboard Parliament”

By amending the electoral law to prohibit political parties from participating in elections, Kaïs Saïed wanted to avoid the return of those who were in power between 2011 and 2021, a period that his supporters call the “dark decade”. However, according to Al Qatiba’s investigation, more than 40 elected deputies were affiliated with Nidaa Tounes, the party founded by former President Béji Caïd Essebsi in 2012 to counter the Islamists of Ennahda, then in power. . Others are notables known in their localities for having been members of the Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD), the party of former President Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali.

“Perhaps they will go into Ben Ali mode and the Assembly will be a recording chamber”, wonders bitterly Saïda Ounissi, former Ennahda deputy whose mandate had been suspended on July 25, 2021 with Kais Saied’s coup de force:

“You couldn’t have a fake Constitution, a fake legislative election, power in the hands of one man and expect something other than what you see there: a cardboard Parliament, a set. »

The National Salvation Front (FSN), the main opposition coalition to Kais Saïed – of which Ennahda is a part -, said on Sunday that it did not recognize this new Parliament “resulting from the Constitution of a coup d’etat […] and ‘election boycotted by an overwhelming majority’. About 11% of voters turned out on December 17 and January 29 for these legislative elections, which were shunned by a large majority of political parties and activists opposed to the regime, described as authoritarian, by the new strongman of Tunis.