News Review on "Was semi-presidentialism the right choice for Tunisia?" for the course "Political Institutions"

News Review on Semi-Presidential System in Tunisia
Student’s Name:
Institution:
Professor:
Unit Name & Number:
Date of Submission:
News Review on Semi-Presidential System in Tunisia
Introduction
A semi-presidential is a government system where the president exists alongside a prime minister and a cabinet, with the latter in charge of the legislature of the state hence joining the aspects of presidential systems and parliamentary of government (Choudhry et al., 2014). The Semi-presidential system in Tunisia has enabled the country to conquer the history of uncontrolled authoritarian regimes. The system has also reinstated legislative supremacy to the legislative body and has made sure that parliament controls all legislative activities. However, there have been several challenges associated with the implementation of the semi-presidentialism system in Tunisia which cast doubts whether semi-presidentialism was not the right choice for Tunisia. The challenges include:
* Imbalanced separation and exercise of power by current regimes
* Political confrontations between the president and the prime minister
* Increased political and institutional crises
* Succession wars and worsened political unrest
* Constitutional reforms should not have been the end in itself, but a means to the end
Imbalanced separation and exercise of power
The Semi-Presidentialism system in Tunisia has led to a new imbalance in separation exercising of power because of the almost inexistent separation of powers in the tradition of Montesquieu. In the five years following the constitution's implementation, the sense of balance of supremacy has significantly been unequal, favoring the president(Pastor, 2018). After the implementation of the presidentialism system, the first election that took place in December 2014 resulted in Beji Caid Essebsi becoming the president with 55.6% of the total votes. This inequality has categorized executive power since the present Head of Government, Youssef Chahed, is sidelined in the president's handling of executive matters. During an interview with President Essebsi, he claims that he is the one who chose Chahed to become the Head of Government. Therefore, since the citizens do not elect him, Chahed draws his rightfulness from his proposal to the Congress of the public's representatives. He insists that Chahed does not have legality in handling some of the roles he is assigned under his role in government.
This breach between the letter of the constitution and its effective use continues to broaden due to power imbalance. President Essebsi's way of shaping and dominating his rank in Tunisia is putting the constitution's diarchy representation at risk. For instance, the president launched a sequence of functional reforms such as the draft inheritance equality bill, and his Cabinet approved in November 2018. He also used his power to extend the scope of its designation. For instance, according to the 2014 constitution, ''the president is the Chair of the National Security Council''. However, the Presidential 2017 order generated many commissions, including environment, education, and healthcare. That directed some commentators to get anxious about cryptocracy.
Political confrontations between the president and the prime minister
The first constitutional issue with the semi-presidential system was the president or prime minister could take any decision or action without consulting each other (Brumberg et al., 2020). This delays legislations or State decision-making process and in case the two do not reach a consensus on any issue, it could spiral into a full blown confrontation. That can easily stiffle the government’s economic efficiency, put the country’s sovereignty and security at risk during emergency situations which require prompt decision-making devoid of wrangles. Article 89 of Tunisia's 2014 constitution empowers the prime minister to appoint ministers and reshuffle the Cabinet, but still, he must consult the president when appointing or dismissing ministers of defense and foreign affairs.
Politically warring sides and prime minister’s opponents have interpreted article 89 to mean that the prime minister should always consult the president on cabinet's appointments and reshuffle. That suggests that a constitutional crisis has emerged since adopting the new constitution whereby the prime minister consults the president on all positions (Mekki, 2018). The opponents also...