Tunisia's constitutional assembly has begun drafting the country's new constitution amid fears over the stability of the Nahda-led government, writes Lassaad Ben Ahmed in Tunis On 13 February, after a 100-day wait, the Tunisian constitutional assembly finally began its designated task of drafting Tunisia's new constitution. In part the delay has been due to the need to approve the assembly's by-laws and the law regulating the government during the interim period. However, another contributing factor has been the mounting anger directed against the so-called troika, the coalition of the Nahda, Takattul and Congress for the Republic Parties that currently holds power in Tunisia, for being preoccupied with divvying up government positions between them and ignoring the country's economic and social problems, foremost among which are unemployment and sustainable development. Initially the government led by Tunisian prime minister Hamed Jebali, a member of the Nahda Party, had argued that such demands could not be met until elected officials had assumed control of the government and the government had regained its legitimacy after the toppling of former Tunisian president Zein Al-Abidine bin Ali early last year. However, this occurred in the final week of December, only to be followed by several of the new ministers complaining that the government bureaucracy was gripped by so many structural deficiencies that it would take a long time to mend. While these excuses may have some validity, the fact is that the Nahda-led government has been plagued by pressures from all fronts and its sluggishness in realising the aims of the Revolution has only been part of the problem. Recent resignations from the Takattul Party indicate the magnitude of the government's problems. The Takattul Party is a centre-left grouping with a progressive platform that champions civil and individual liberties and causes consistent with the defence of Tunisia's Arab and Islamic identity. The resignations came in protest against concessions that the party's leader and current chair of the constitutional assembly, Mustafa bin Jaafar, had made to the Nahda and that were viewed as a betrayal of the party's progressive principles. Analysts believe that the resignations have not only weakened the Takattul Party, but have also threatened the stability of the ruling troika. At the same time, a largely splintered opposition has been mending its rifts and gaining force. Of particular note is the coalition of 13 centrist parties that have rallied around an initiative coming from former prime minister Beji Caid Al-Sebsi. Led by Mansour Moalla, a widely respected figure in Tunisia, the coalition is expected to form a counterweight to the three parties that won the elections and that now form the ruling troika in the constitutional assembly. The troika has also been experiencing heat for what some have described as double-standards in its foreign policy and others as its "three-headed diplomacy", referring to inconsistencies and lack of coordination between the minister of foreign affairs, the acting president and the chairman of the constitutional assembly. Although the three spoke as one when expelling the Syrian ambassador from Tunisia recently in protest against the violence that the Syrian regime has unleashed against the Syrian people, this did not spare the government from more criticism. According to some, the step was poorly considered and precipitate, while others have gone further and accused the government of bowing to the dictates of Washington or Qatar, which were keen to disrupt the Iranian-Syrian-Hizbullah alliance against Israel. Because the Tunisian diplomatic move coincided with interim president Moncef Marzouki's recent tour of North Africa, it was also interpreted as evidence of an intention to implement a scheme to redraw the political map of the Middle East. Such designs have long been opposed within the Nahda movement, which once espoused a vision not dissimilar to that of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Suspicions of this nature have given rise to calls for the country's new constitution to include a provision prohibiting normalisation with Israel. However, the Jebali government received its most painful blow to date last week in the wake of the German-owned Leoni company's decision to close one of its plants in Tunisia in response to labour strikes. The plant employs 2,700 people out of its more than 12,000 employees throughout the country. Although the government succeeded in persuading the German firm to reopen the plant within days after its closure, this has not laid to rest concerns among investors regarding the government's efficacy in restoring stability amidst a wave of labour-related unrest. It appears that even the weather may have conspired to compound the government's difficulties. The cold wave that struck the interior and the mountains recently fuelled a sense of alienation and anger. Record snowfall has cut off communications to rural areas, impeding the arrival of food and provisions to numerous towns and villages already suffering the strains of poverty and deprivation. With a government that lacks cohesion and experience in diplomacy, labour issues, and crisis management, the situation in Tunisia is threatening to build to critical levels.
