TUNIS, Aug 13, 2012 (AFP) -
TUNIS, Aug 13, 2012 (AFP) –
Tunisia’s new constitution will not be adopted by parliament until April 2013, six months later than planned, Habib Khedher, who heads the committee in charge of drafting the constitution, said on Monday.
“The final draft of the constitution could be put to the vote (in the National Constituent Assembly) at the end of April,” said the lawyer, who belongs to the ruling Islamist party Ennahda and is an elected member of the interim parliament.
“I think that is a realistic target,” Kheder added.
The government had until now insisted that it would meet the deadline of October 23 for ratifying the new constitution, in order to hold planned general elections in March 2013.
The new timetable will be discussed at a meeting of the NCA on September 3, ahead of the next parliamentary session, Kheder said.
Tunisia’s main parties were given one year to draft a new constitution, after elections that brought Ennahda to power at the head of a coalition also grouping centre-left parties the Congress for the Republic and Ettakatol.
It will replace the provisional laws that have governed Tunisia since the revolution that overthrew veteran strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011, and allow fresh elections to take place.
But the project has been heavily delayed, with no sign of a compromise between the parties on certain key questions, including the powers of parliament and the head of state.
