Divergences on provisional public authorities' organisation (commission)

The provisional distribution and organisation of public authorities were subject to divergence of views, said on Tuesday members of the commission in charge of this issue within the Constituent Assembly. Results of the commission works will be submitted "within two days" to the Constituent Assembly presidency before being forwarded for examination by the Constituent Assembly itself at a plenary session, according to commission member Said Mechichi from Ettakatol party. Those differences of opinions among members of the commission chaired by Ennahdha's Habib Khethr touch essentially on power sharing between the Presidency of the Republic, the Government and the Constituent Assembly. They also have to do with voting modes of the draft of the new constitution. "The commission works were marked by lengthy debates and high tension," said Dr. Fadhel Moussa (PDM), hence the need for carrying on debate within the commission, he specified. The debates centered on "the mechanisms of the parliamentary regime" as foundation for ruling the country at the transition stage which will proceed normally one year, he said. "Chairmanship of the government will be a pivotal component of the executive power, and not the presidency of the republic," said Mr. Khethr, referring to the commission's working document. "Our task does not consist in establishing a presidential or parliamentary regime, but rather drawing up a model of balanced power sharing which would be, according to some, be close to a parliamentary regime, or a modified presidential regime, according to some others," the commission chairman said. "Powers of the presidency of the republic will be formal," he argued, as it is the case in all parliamentary regimes, pointing out that some points have not been resolved yet. The commission members arrived at an agreement on such issues as the candidacy for the presidency of the republic, the election of the president, the delegation of powers in case of incapacitation, the modes of electing a new president in case of total incapacitation and the issue of the seat of the presidency of the republic and modes for non-confidence motion. The divergence of views involve "the large powers that some parties, including Ennahdha, seek to adopt for the chairmanship of the government that would be similar to those enjoyed by the former president," said PDP's Mahdi Ben Gharbia. He cited, in this regard, the powers of appointing ministers, creating new ministries, nominating directors general, in addition to the delegation of half of the powers of the Constituent Assembly to the chairmanship of the government in situations of state of emergency. The commission tasked with the provisional organisation of public authorities is working on three projects. These projects were proposed by the tripartite coalition  Ennahdha, Ettakatol and CPR—and two think tanks.