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Tunisia: President Ben Ali Announces Major Political Reforms
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Tunisia Online (Tunis)
21 March 2008
Posted to the web 25 March 2008
Tunis
In an address commemorating Tunisia's 52 nd anniversary of Independence and Youth Days on March 21, 2008, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali announced a set of important political measures aiming at strengthening the foundations of democracy in Tunisia, as well as widening the participation of young people to political life.
The measures include the possibility of a draft amendment of the constitution to allow "exceptionally for the forthcoming elections of 2009, the possibility to run for presidential election for the first official of each political party , whether he is a president, secretary general, or first secretary of his party, provided that he was elected for that position , and that on the day he submits his candidacy, he must have held that position for no les than two consecutive years since he was elected to it."
Another reform is the submission of a constitutional bill amending the text of the constitution to lower the age of voting to18, a decision he had previously announced on November 7, 2007 on the occasion of the 20 th anniversary of the Change. The measure said President Ben Ali will "extend the political participation to over half a million additional young people who will be entitled to vote in 2009" .
In his address, President Ben Ali further announced the "launch of a comprehensive dialogue, with youth" placed under the motto "Tunisia First". "We want this dialogue to be free from taboos or censorship on opinion and expression, respecting the national tenets and our society's conventional values", he said.
Evoking the 5 th national congress of Tunisia 's majority party, the Democratic Constitutional Rally (RCD), President Ben Ali said that it would be dubbed the "Congress of Challenge". He also pledged that RCD women "will represent no less than 30% in all of our electoral lists for the Chamber of Deputies and for municipal councils".
President Ben Ali also exhorted "all political parties to rely on their own capacities and grassroots action, as well as on their commitment to be in touch with the citizens' concerns", adding that "in our view , political parties are above all, a school instilling a sense of patriotism, citizenship, dialogue and participation". He reaffirmed the importance of "political pluralism as one of the foundations of our political system, and a true prerequisite for true competition."
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In relation to Human Rights, President Ben Ali said that Tunisia had "established Human Rights and the rule of law as fundamental foundations for the project of the Change", adding that we "will pursue its efforts to further promote and protect them in law and in practice".
He noted in this respect that "it is indeed our respect for human life which has driven us to on several occasions to reaffirm our position vis a vis the enforcement of the death penalty and our abstaining from signing death judgments pursuant to our constitutional powers."
Evoking Tunisia 's economic, social and political achievements during the last two decades, President Ben Ali called upon all Tunisians "to take immediate action to overcome difficulties, to, step up action and to work more and better." "Devotion to serving Tunisia , to defending its integrity, and to preserving its gains, is a sacred duty we accomplish with great resolve", said President Ben Ali.
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