“The Tunisian parliament chooses its president… and the most prominent competitors.”
Eight members of parliament ran for the presidency of the new Tunisian parliament during the opening session chaired by the Speaker of the House. The list of candidates includes Ibrahim Boudarbalah from the “Let the People Triumph” initiative and independents Hisham Hassani, Fouzi Dhaouadi, Yassri Al-Boubi, Maher Al-Qatari, Abdel Salam Ad-Dahmani, Shafiq Zafouri, and Badreddine Al-Qamoudi, a leader in the People’s Movement.
And the former dean of lawyers and one of the close associates of Tunisian President Kais Saied, Ibrahim Bouderbala, is still the most likely to win. On Monday, the doors of the Bardo parliament in the capital Tunis were opened, after it was closed to the Ennahda party and its leader Rached Ghannouchi, the former head of the legislative body, before he left office on July 25, 2021.
“The opening session of the new Tunisian Assembly of People’s Representatives, which emerged from the elections of December 17, 2022, began today, blocking the path of the ambitions of the Ennahda party to return to the 2019 parliament.”
The parliament, which was controlled by the Islamist party, was dissolved due to the developments that witnessed the Bardo Dome, which reached the point of exchanging violence, and it was decided to dissolve it by presidential order on March 30, 2022. The opening session of the new parliament, which emerged from the elections on December 17, 2022, was chaired by the oldest member, parliamentarian “Saleh Al-Mubarak,” with the assistance of the youngest male and female members.
Last Thursday, Tunisian President Kais Saied called on members of the House of People’s Representatives to attend its opening plenary session.
The mechanism for choosing the president.
In the event that no candidate obtains a majority in the first round, a second round is held where the two candidates who received the most votes in the first round participate, and this takes place during the same opening session. The winner is the candidate who obtains the most votes. In case of a tie, the older candidate is preferred, and if the tie persists, a lottery is used to determine the winner.
The session’s chair announces the name of the winning candidate for the presidency of the council, as well as the names of its two vice presidents, and then the opening session is adjourned. The general session resumes its work under the presidency of the elected president and with the assistance of its two vice presidents.
The President presents to the Council the formation of the committee responsible for drafting the internal regulations. Then he announces the opening of nominations for membership in the mentioned committee and receives nominations in the same session. He announces the nominations and presents the composition for a vote by an absolute majority of the members.
The President also invites the committee responsible for drafting the internal regulations to meet immediately after the opening plenary session, and then announces the adjournment of the session.
In the last elections, 4 political forces won: the “National Tunisian Youth Movement,” also known as the July 25 Movement, the “People Will Prevail” coalition, the “People’s Movement” party, and the “People Founding Front,” in addition to a group of independents who have not yet determined their orientation.