By Stéphanie Pouessel (Jean Monnet Fellow, EUI)
A key symbol of the democratic turn, the new Tunisian Constitution passed in January 2014 acknowledges the role of Tunisians living abroad, who represent about 10% of the population. Two articles of the Constitution clearly address this group: article 55 that guarantees the right to vote and to be represented at the Assembly; and article 74 that grants bi-national citizens the right to run for the position of President of the Republic (under the condition that they pledge to give up the second nationality if elected).
Three years ago, the first elected Assembly clearly contrasted with the parliaments of the former regime. MPs representing the Tunisians living abroad were former exiles (7), children of former exiles (2), or individuals who had studied or worked abroad (8). Some were born and had lived exclusively abroad (2). Seven deputies had two nationalities by birth or acquisition.
Today, the new Assembly that was elected on October 26, 2014 seeks to restore the former regime. ‘Nida Tounès’ (Call for Tunisia), the party that won the majority of seats, is the direct product of the past two dictatorships of Bourguiba and Ben Ali. This restorationist tendency also appears among MPs from the diaspora. Of the 18 seats reserved to representatives of the diaspora, seven went to Nida Tounes. Some of these seven deputies have been directly involved in the old regime (RCD), and have never participated in the long struggle against the authoritarian regimes. In general, they have professional skills disconnected from the field of politics, law or social issues. They have studied marketing, cardiology, biochemistry, etc. and they migrated in order to study, not for political reasons. These new professional profiles express a technocratic turn of the politics of the new assembly.
The predominance of this party explains easily the decline of the number of representatives of formers exiles, essentially belonging to the Islamist party Ennahdha, one of the main opponent to the Bouguibist and Benalist authoritarian regimes. However, this does not account for the increasing presence of children of exiles, who are MPs of the circumscription of France and Italy where they grew up, following the forced exile of their parents. Thus, it is finally through the children of exiles that the “new generation” of Tunisians born abroad enters the legislative Tunisia Assembly. Between 28 and 31 years old, they are the first instantiation of a generation intrinsically linked to another country: they have dual citizenship and master at least two languages. Most importantly, they approach domestic issues, whether in Europe or in Tunisia, from the specific perspective that comes from belonging to two countries. They are in two worlds at the same time. As such, they contribute to redefine the relationship between Europe and Tunisia from below, and to transform the cultural and territorial definition of the nation.