Club100 || My participation in the Tunisian constitutional referendum 2022

Hi steemians,

After a period of rest, I will return to you with an article in which I talk about an experience I had in the past four days, which is my participation as head of a polling station for the Tunisian Independent Authority to secure a referendum on amendments to the constitution, which we will talk about later in more details.

In fact, July 25th is an exceptional day for us Tunisians, as it coincides with the day of the announcement of the transition from the monarchy, where all the powers were in the hands of the king and his entourage, to a republican regime. All citizens have the right to participate in political life and to occupy the highest positions of the state.

In fact, my participation in this referendum stemmed from my belief in change, as our country witnessed years of instability as a result of its adoption of a quasi-parliamentary system that did not guarantee the rights of Tunisians, but rather increased the spread of corruption and the return of nepotism and bribery. Its subject and objectives.

Referendum in Tunisia

In the Official Gazette, President Kais Saied issued Decree No. 32 of 2022 dated May 25, 2022, regarding exceptional provisions for the referendum on July 25, 2022, and Presidential Order No. 506 of 2022 dated May 25, 2022, regarding inviting voters to a referendum in a new draft constitution for the Republic of Tunisia. In the Official Gazette, Presidential Decree No. 505 of 2022 dated May 25, 2022 was also issued regarding fixing the composition of the Advisory Committee for Economic and Social Affairs and the Legal Advisory Committee that comprise the “National Consultative Commission for a New Republic.”

Article 81 of the Tunisian Constitution of 2014 grants “the President of the Republic, exceptionally, to submit to a referendum draft laws related to the approval of treaties, freedoms and human rights, or personal status, ratified by the Assembly of People’s Representatives and not contrary to the Constitution based on the decision of the Constitutional Court. The submission to the referendum is considered a waiver of the right to reply.” If the referendum leads to the acceptance of the project, the President of the Republic seals it and authorizes its publication within a deadline not exceeding fifteen days from the date of the announcement of the results of the referendum.

Source

Election day in my center :

As for me, I had gone through a training phase of two days, during which I went through well in order to perform my duty to the fullest with integrity and transparency, but what made this work difficult is the summer time that was chosen for this referendum, as our country is characterized by great heat at this time of the year, which you can see from Sweat on my clothes, which prompted me to change them twice with the absence of air conditioning, as well as the length of the polling period, which exceeded 16 hours of continuous work, in which we receive voters with all professionalism, because the mere mistake can make it difficult for us to obtain identical results at the end of the day.

As I said, work continues from six in the morning until ten at night, during which I enjoyed a three-hour break, in which I returned home to shower and change my clothes.

In fact, the atmosphere was pleasant among all the members, as they all performed the role entrusted to them with all professionalism and firmness. As for the voters, their ages varied, as most of them were of the age group over 45 years, and this is evidence of the youth’s reluctance to political life and the exercise of their right to choose, which is a culture It must be inculcated in our future generations so that they have more belief in the duty of citizenship, which means a lot within society because of its importance in its development and its exit from many obstacles.

And as we had fun with many nice voters, but we met a number of others who were not in a good mood that day, but this does not concern us. It is our duty to welcome everyone with cheerfulness and kindness so that the electoral process goes well.

After a long and exhausting work, all polling doors were closed at ten o'clock at night, and all the office members gathered in the square to take pictures for the memorial, before we returned to our offices to do the counting work.

The vote counting process in our office took two hours to produce the following results:

Of the 798 voters invited for the referendum, 302 attended, with a participation rate of 38%. 282 voters voted “yes” for the new constitution, in contrast, 14 voters voted “no,” with 4 papers canceled for not respecting the conditions and 2 blank papers.

The preliminary result of Referendum in all Tunisia: