Tunisia’s National Constituent Assembly

Members of the sub-committee of general legislation at the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) addressed yesterday, February 1, the draft law of the “protection of the revolution,” which stirred debate between opposition bloc members and ruling alliance representatives at the assembly.

The “protection of the revolution” draft law aims to eliminate politicians, who were connected to the former regime of ousted president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, from the post-revolution political scene for the next ten years.

“It is a preventive procedure in order to avoid potential mistakes that happened in the past during the dictator’s era,” stated Sana Merseni, representative of the ruling Ennahdha party at the NCA and member of the general legislation sub-committee.

Some members of the NCA argued that this draft law should be considered as part of transitional justice, as it deals with holdovers of the former regime. Although officially submitted to the NCA by the Ministry of Human Rights and Transitional Justice weeks ago, the transitional justice draft law has not been discussed yet by NCA members. And priority was given to “the protection of  the revolution” law.

The “protection of the revolution” draft law is not a transitional justice matter since it does not include penal measures nor does it imply reforming institutions, which are transitional justice tasks, Merseni argued.

“No one should be against this law. We all agree the revolution must be protected,” she added.

However, member of the NCA opposition bloc and representative of Al Joumhouri party Issam Chebbi disagrees. In an interview with Tunisia Live, Chebbi condemned the attempt to pass this law and described it as dangerous.

“Ennahdha members and their allies are attempting to pass a collective punishment law in order to eliminate their political competition and decide the results of the next elections,” said Chebbi.

Al Joumhouri has recently joined forces with opposition parties Nidaa Tounes and Al Massar to form the “Alliance for Tunisia.” Nidaa Tounes has been criticized by the ruling Troïka coalition for including representatives of the RCD, the former ruling political party under Ben Ali.

According to Chebbi, the draft law is against the internal bylaw of the NCA. The idea of passing it only came after Ennahdha and other blocs signed a petition that considered the draft law as an emergency and consequently asked the NCA to review it before the transitional justice draft law, he said.

“Al Joumhouri members presented a draft law of transitional justice before the government did… It is forgotten and neglected though. We protested this by writing a petition yesterday,” added Chebbi.

The “protection of the revolution” draft law is still being discussed within the general legislation sub-committee before it is to be presented during a plenary session. Merseni reiterated that the main question is whether to discuss the law separately or at the same time as that of transitional justice.

The chaos and impartiality within the NCA “echoe the situation of the country as well,” said Chebbi.