Politics

Tunisian President Saied celebrates constitution victory in referendum despite low turnout

Published

2 years ago

July 26, 2022

Tunisian President Kais Saied and his supporters on Monday, celebrated the likely victory of a favourable vote in the July 25 referendum on a new constitution amid protest from a majority of the country’s civil rights groups and opposition politicians.

The opposition came with the release of the draft constitution which gave more powers to the head of state with fears that the country could return to an authoritarian rule which gave rise to the 2011 Arab Spring riots.

The referendum which held exactly a year after Saied sacked the government and suspended parliament in what rivals termed a coup, witnessed only 27.5 per cent of Tunisia’s 9.3 million registered voters, according to the electoral commission after polls closed on Monday night.

The commission, however, said 93 per cent of those who voted supported the new constitution which relied on an exit poll taken by the Sigma Conseil institute, with the initial results scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

Despite the low turn out of voters, the turnout at the polls was seen by a majority of political observers as a gauge of Saied’s popularity after a year of sweeping changes which included sacking of the parliament, dissolving the electoral commission, sacking of top judges as well as having a new constitution to replace the 2014 constitution which has tilted the regime into a one-man rule.

After the projected outcome of the referendum was announced on national television on Monday night, supporters of the president broke into wild jubilation as they took to the streets of the capital Tunis, waving flags and blaring horns from their cars, with some singing the national anthem or shouting:

“We would sacrifice our souls and our blood for you, Saied!”

While addressing the nation in a state broadcast, the President said:

“Tunisia has entered a new phase. There was a large crowd in the polling stations and the rate would have been higher if the vote took place over two days.”

Click to comment

Politics

Egyptian court upholds ex-presidential candidate Ahmed Tantawy’s sentence

Published

16 hours ago

December 18, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Former presidential candidate, Ahmed Tantawy, and his campaign manager, Mohamed Abou El-Diar, were found guilty of faking election paperwork, and given a one-year jail term with labour by an Egyptian court, Tantawy’s legal team announced Tuesday.

Last year, Tantawy was the most well-known candidate to run against Abdel Fattah al-Sisi for a third term, winning 89.6% of the vote.

To avoid receiving the necessary number of public endorsements to be on the ballot, he halted his campaign before to the election, alleging harassment and arrests directed at hundreds of his family members and associates.

Egyptian authorities criticised Tantawy’s tactic of distributing unapproved copies of endorsement forms to garner popular support, but they denied any misconduct.

Egypt’s Misdemeanour Appeals Court upheld the May court ruling on Monday, which prohibits Tantawy from seeking public office for five years and mandates that he pay a fine of 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($395).

Tantawy’s defence team member and well-known human rights attorney Khaled Ali said in a Facebook post on Tuesday that the appeals procedure was riddled with anomalies.

Ali said lawyers struggled for months to confirm court dates, with hearings appearing absent from official schedules and case files missing from court registries.

The public prosecution was not immediately available to comment on the ruling or on Ali’s allegations over the process.

Politics

Court orders Uganda to compensate LRA war crimes victims

Published

16 hours ago

December 18, 2024

Ifeoluwa Dada

Uganda’s tribunal has ordered the government to pay up to 10 million Ugandan shillings ($2,740) to each victim of Lord’s Resistance Army commander, Thomas Kwoyelo, the first senior rebel leader to be convicted.

Kwoyelo, a mid-level LRA leader, was sentenced to 40 years in jail in October for war crimes like murder, rape, slavery, torture, and kidnapping.

Kwoyelo’s “indigent” status prevented him from compensating the victims, thus the court ordered the government to compensate.

Kwoyelo’s crimes were “a manifestation of failure on the part of the government that triggers a responsibility on the state to pay reparations to the victims,” the verdict added.

The court also ordered various financial compensation to Kwoyelo’s property destruction and theft victims.

From strongholds in northern Uganda, the LRA brutalised Ugandans under Joseph Kony for over 20 years while it fought the military to destroy the government.

The militants raped, abducted, cut off victims’ limbs and mouths, and bludgeoned them to death using crude implements.

Under military pressure, the LRA withdrew to lawless forests in South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic in 2005 and perpetrated civilian atrocities.

Although assaults are rare, Kony and splintered groups are reported to dwell there.

Kwoyelo was taken by the Ugandan military in 2009 in the northeastern Congo, and his case made its way through Ugandan courts until he was found guilty in August.