Since the recent adoption of Tunisia’s new constitution, which was positively assessed by the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe’s constitutional law experts, Tunisia and the Council of Europe will go to work on assessing electoral law. 

Addressing a plenary session of the Venice Commission on Saturday 22 March, Mustapha Ben Jaafar, president of Tunisia’s constituent assembly, thanked the constitutional law experts for their “solidarity” and “constant commitment”to democracy and the rule of law.

“The path has been laborious, difficult and sometimes tragic,” he told the assembled legal experts, “but the Venice Commission has been by our side, with regular exchanges and meetings with members of the Tunisian constituent assembly.” 

According to Mr. Ben Jaafar, the new Tunisian constitution benefits from two main advantages: its content is considered by most people as positive and corresponds to the aspirations of the Tunisian people. “It pays homage to sacrifices made by all Tunisians to rid themselves of dictatorship,” he said. But its main merit comes from the way it was prepared: via consensus and “a balance between institutional legitimacy and consensual legitimacy,” he added. 

"This process lead on 26 January 2014 to the adoption of the new text by an overwhelming majority of 200 out of 216 votes.” 

“We look forward to future cooperation”, said Gianni Buquicchio, president of the Venice Commission. He saluted the Tunisian people on their path towards democracy and the rule of law.