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Tunisia: Opposition parties, Ennahda, others to boycott President Saied’s referendum

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Consequent to President Kais Saied of Tunisia’s announcement on Thursday of postponed parliamentary elections, an opposition party, the Free Constitutional Party (FCP) says it will boycott any referendum on political changes and pledge to oppose it.

The position was made known by the party leader Abir Moussa on Friday,

Slamreportsafrica.com reported last week that members of the Tunisia parliament defied President Saied order and held their first full session since last summer when he suspended the chamber and moved to one-man rule. Saied in reaction reaffirmed the suspension of the parliament.

It should be recalled that President Saied suspended parliament, and seized a string of powers in July 2021. In December of the same year, he announced in a speech on national television a three-month “popular consultation” with the Tunisian people after which “draft constitutional and other reforms will be put forward to a referendum on July 25”.

While the referendum date appears unmoved for now, with the new announcement, the possibility of a new parliamentary election while the former assembly remain suspended by the Saied’s fiat is no longer on the table and opposition parties in Tunisia are not happy.

To the end that there will be no elections, Tunisia’s main opposition party, Ennahda, has also rejected Saied’s referendum call.

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Rwanda wants to hold presidential, parliamentary elections on same day

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East African country, Rwanda wants to hold presidential and parliamentary elections to be held at the same time.

According to a statement outlining cabinet resolutions, a proposal presented by Paul Kagame was approved on Friday to amend the country’s constitution to allow “harmonisation of parliamentary and presidential elections calendars.”

Parliamentary elections are currently scheduled for August this year, but they may be pushed back to next year if the constitutional change is implemented.
 
During the last amendment to its constitution in 2015, Kagame was granted a seven-year term that began in 2017, followed by two five-year terms. The lawmakers’ term is five years.
Parliamentary elections in September 2018 saw women fill 61% of seats, the Rwandan Patriotic Front maintain an absolute majority, and two opposition parties, the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and Social Party, Imberakuri, win two seats each.
Harmonization of election dates is not a common practice in African politics. In Nigeria, West Africa where elections were recently held, Presidential and Federal Legislative elections were held on the same day while State (national sub-units) held on a later date.

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Sudan’s Fattah al-Burhan says military will be under civilian powers under new regime

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Ahead of the planned transition into civilian administration, Sudan’s leader General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan has revealed that the country’s army will be subject to the reign of civil government.

al-Burhan made the position known before a session for security and army reforms in Khartoum Burhan while noting that his country will build a military force that will not intervene in politics and will be trusted by the Sudanese people in building a modern and democratic state.

A year after the military took power in a coup, the military and its former civilian partners and other political forces have agreed on a framework for a new transitional government and constitution, which will be announced next month.

The Northeast African country has a long history of military coups that dates back to 1957. More recently, the country experienced a coup in 2019 that ousted the military junta of Omar-al-Bashir which had been in power for over 30 years.

There was also a report of an aborted coup in September 2021 and a “self-coup” later in October of the same year that brought in the Head Sovereignty Council, Lieutenant-General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan.

Since independence, Many Africa has grappled with contentious and contradictory roles of armed forces whether they be part of or against the state. Currently, there has been a wave of the military across the continent, particularly in Burkina Faso, Guinea, and Mali.

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