Tunisia's Islamic Ennahda Party has said no to calls from conservatives for a new constitution based on Islamic law, or sharia, in a move that will likely see Tunisia's secular history preserved. Ennahda, which leads the current government, said on Monday that it had no intention of pushing an Islamic-based constitution. “Ennahda has decided to retain the first clause of the previous constitution without change,” Ameur Larayed told Radio Mosaique. “We want the unity of our people and we do not want divisions.” The party has not formally announced its final position, but most believe that even though it leads the government, because it does not have a majority, it will be unlikely to take on a task that would alienated nearly two-thirds of Tunisians. “What we see is the [Ennahda] party showing what it means to be in government,” Yussif Haron, a Tunis-based political analyst and commentator on Arab affairs, told Bikyamasr.com on Monday evening. “They understand that they do not have the ability push an Islamic state, and I doubt they would even want to. They are much more like Turkey's AKP than Egypt's Brotherhood,” he added. A constituent assembly, elected in October, is putting together a new constitution as part of Tunisia's transition after popular protests ousted authoritarian leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January last year, which sparked the uprisings elsewhere in the region. Religious conservatives, including the third largest party in the constituent assembly, have called in recent weeks for the constitution to include sharia as the key source of legislation. The vast majority of the country, however, are in opposition to the idea, saying that Tunisia has historically been secular and while there should be greater rights for Islamic ways of life, such as women being allowed to don the headscarf, they don't want Islamic law to be the foundation of their new constitution. Rachid al-Ghannouchi, the leader of Ennahda, which occupies over 40 percent of seats in the assembly, promised before the election that his party would be satisfied with the existing first clause of the constitution, which identifies Islam as the religion of state, but does not specifically refer to sharia. According to media reports, he is reported to have said about one month ago that Ennahda was debating the idea of including sharia and had not reached a conclusion at the time. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/IGWcM Tags: Constitution, Ennahda, featured, Secular, Sharia, Tunisia Section: Latest News, North Africa, Religion, Tunisia
