■ Tunisian Constituent Assembly adopts provisional constitution

Tunisia’s newly elected Constituent Assembly last Saturday, 10 December adopted an interim constitution, following five days of deliberation. The interim constitution will reestablish state institutions and allow for a new government to be appointed. It also paves the way for the election of a new President of the Republic who must be at least 35 years of age, exclusively Tunisian and of the Muslim religion. While welcomed by many Tunisians, the adoption of the bill did not go without controversy. Human rights activists have already attacked the document for discriminating against minorities and bi-nationals.  There is discord even among the Coalition(which together won 67% of the vote). The minority parties within the Coalition (the Congres pour la Republique and the Ettakatol who together won 49 seats and likely to produce the next president) also boycotted the vote, arguing that the Prime Minister - likely to come from the Islamist  Ennahdha which has 89 seats - is given too many powers under the interim document at the expense of the President. Ennahdha argues it wants to avoid the type of imperial presidency that prevailed during the first republic, while its minority coalition partners are not ready to accept a ceremonial presidency.  Added to this is the issue of requisit threshold for adopting the permanent constitution which has split the CA - with the Coalition wanting a simple majority while other minority parties arguing for a two-thirds majority. The interim document is expected to remain in force until the Constituent Assembly adopts a permanent constitution, which must be within a year.