‘Your opinion, our decision’: Tunisia’s grand e-survey falls flat but raises questions – The National

‘Your opinion, our decision’: Tunisia’s grand e-survey falls flat but raises questions – The National

After months of build-up and an estimated hundreds of thousands of government dollars spent for what was hailed as the Arab world’s first electronic referendum, Tunisia’s e-survey to inform a new constitution has produced more questions than answers.

Two days before the close of the National Consultation, a survey designed to hear out the political, economic and social hopes, fears and frustrations of the Tunisian people, just over 447,000 of Tunisia’s 12 million citizens had responded.

The consultation was meant to be a referendum not only on a new constitution but on the man calling for one – a grand plebiscite to give President Kais Saied a mandate to rewrite the 2014 constitution. The landmark document was composed over three years after the country's 2011 revolution, through excruciating rounds of negotiations in a constituent assembly and nationwide dialogue.