The Constituent Assembly of

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

, or National Constituent Assembly (NCA) was the body in charge of devising a new

Tunisian constitution The Constitution of Tunisia is the supreme law of the Tunisian Republic. The constitution is the framework for the organization of the Tunisian government and for the relationship of the federal government with the governorates, citizens, and ...

for the era after the fall of President

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Zine El Abidine Ben Ali ( ar, زين العابدين بن علي, translit=Zayn al-'Ābidīn bin 'Alī; 3 September 1936 – 19 September 2019), commonly known as Ben Ali ( ar, بن علي) or Ezzine ( ar, الزين), was a Tunisian politician ...

and his

Constitutional Democratic Rally The Democratic Constitutional Rally or Democratic Constitutional Assembly ( ar, التجمع الدستوري الديمقراطي ', french: Rassemblement Constitutionnel Démocratique, sometimes also called Constitutional Democratic Rally in E ...

(RCD)–regime. Convoked after the

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

on 23 October 2011, the convention consisted of 217 lawmakers representing Tunisians living both in the country and abroad. A plurality of members came from the moderate Islamist

Ennahda Movement The Ennahda Movement ( ar, حركة النهضة, Ḥarakatu n-Nahḍah; french: link=no, Mouvement Ennahdha), also known as the Renaissance Party or simply known as Ennahda, is a self-defined Islamic democratic political party in Tunisia. Fou ...

. The Assembly held its first meeting on 22 November 2011, and was dissolved and replaced by the

Assembly of the Representatives of the People The Assembly of the People's Representatives ( ar, مجلس نواب الشعب ', french: Assemblée des représentants du peuple; ARP) is Tunisia's legislative branch of government. The unicameral Assembly replaced the Constituent Assembly and ...

on 26 October 2014.

Convocation

Provisionally, a time of approximately one year was envisioned to develop the new constitution, although the convention itself was to determine its own schedule. Before the first session of the NCA, the

Ennahda The Ennahda Movement ( ar, حركة النهضة, Ḥarakatu n-Nahḍah; french: link=no, Mouvement Ennahdha), also known as the Renaissance Party or simply known as Ennahda, is a self-defined Islamic democratic political party in Tunisia. Fou ...

Congress for the Republic french: La souveraineté du peuple, la dignité du citoyen, la légitimité de l'état. , predecessor = , headquarters = 41 Hedi Chaker,1000 Tunis , newspaper = ''Tunisie Avenir'' , student_wing = , youth_wing ...

(CPR) and

Ettakatol The Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties ( ar, التكتل الديمقراطي من أجل العمل والحريات, ' ; french: link=no, Forum démocratique pour le travail et les libertés), also referred to as Ettakatol or by its Fre ...

agreed to share the three highest posts in state. Accordingly, the parliament voted

Mustapha Ben Jafar Mustapha Ben Jafar ( ar, مصطفى بن جعفر) (born 8 December 1940) is a Tunisian politician and medical doctor who was Speaker of the Constituent Assembly of Tunisia from November 2011 to December 2014. He founded and has led the Democratic ...

(Ettakatol) speaker of the NCA upon being convoked on 22 November. Meherzia Labidi (Ennahda) and Larbi Abid (CPR) were elected Deputy Speakers.

Provisional constitution and presidential election

On 10 December 2011, the assembly adopted a provisional constitution (''Law on the provisional organisation of public powers'') According to articles VIII and IX of the document, the requirements for the eligibility as

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

are exclusive Tunisian nationality (excluding citizens with dual nationality), having Tunisian parentage, religious affiliation to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

, and an age of 35 years or more. 141 delegates approved of the law, 37 voted against, and 39 abstained. On 12 December 2011, the NCA elected the human rights activist and CPR leader

Moncef Marzouki Mohamed Moncef Marzouki ( ar, محمد المنصف المرزوقي; ''Muhammad al-Munṣif al-Marzūqī'', born 7 July 1945) is a Tunisian politician who served as the fifth president of Tunisia from 2011 to 2014. Through his career he has been ...

as the interim President of the Tunisian Republic. 153 delegates voted for him, three against, and 44 votes were blank. Blank votes were the result of a boycott from the opposition parties, who disagreed with the new "mini-constitution". On 14 December, one day after his accession to office, Marzouki appointed

Hamadi Jebali Hamadi Jebali ( ar, حمادي الجبالي, '; born 12 January 1949) is a Tunisian engineer, Muslim politician and journalist who was Prime Minister of Tunisia from December 2011 to March 2013. He was the Secretary-General of the Ennahda Move ...

, the secretary-general of the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

. Jebali presented his

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

on 20 December, and officially took office on 24 December. , - style="background:#E9E9E9;" ! colspan=3, Candidacy of

of the

, - style="background:#E9E9E9;" ! align="left", Choice !! Votes !! % , - , align="left", Yes check

For, , 153, , 75.7 , - , align="left", Against, , 3, , 1.5 , - , align="left", Blank, , 44, , 20.3 , - , align="left", Abstentions, , 2, , 1.0 , - style="background:#F2F2F2;" ! align="left", Total !! 202 !! 100.0 , - style="background:#F2F2F2;" , align="left", Voter turnout , colspan="2", 93.1 , - style="background:#F2F2F2;" , align="left", Electorate , colspan="2", 217 , - , colspan="3", Source: AFP

Constitution drafting process

The actual process of drafting the new constitution started on 13 February 2012. The assembly established six committees, each in charge of one of the individual themes of the constitution. The first commission was responsible for the preamble and the general principles and amendments. Each of the committees consisted of 22 lawmakers and mirrored the relative strength of the political groups in the assembly. The most crucial question was the form of government. While the Islamist Ennahda movement favoured a

parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...

, its secular coalition partners CPR and Ettakatol, as well as most of the minor opposition parties preferred a

semi-presidential republic A semi-presidential republic, is a republic in which a president exists alongside a prime minister and a cabinet, with the latter two being responsible to the legislature of the state. It differs from a parliamentary republic in that it has a ...

. The new

was passed on 26 January 2014.

Party standings

The party standings as of the election and as of 26 October 2014 were as follows: Note: ¹Split from Ennahda. ::²Split from CPR. ::³Mostly composed of former members of Popular Petition. ::⁴Split from Popular Petition. ::⁵Split from FDTL. ::⁶Merged into PR. ::⁷Merger of PDP, Afek Tounes, minor parties and independents. ::⁸Split from PDP. ::⁹Dissolved. Most members joined VDS. ::¹⁰Mostly composed of former members of PDM. ::¹¹Merged into PR. Later revived. ::¹²Founded after the 2011 election; was joined by defectors from different parties.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Government of Tunisia Tunisian Revolution 2011 establishments in Tunisia