One hundred days after the triggering of Article 80, the constitutional architecture of 2014 has now been profoundly reshaped. Whether using the said article was a constitutional move or not is no longer a question: Tunisia is now de facto evolving outside the constitutional framework, in a new organization of powers under the socalled ‘Decree 117’. The latter consecrates the concentration of both executive and legislative powers - formerly divided between the Presidency, the government and the Assembly of People's Representatives (ARP) - in the hands of the President of the Republic. The shift that began on July 25 with the adoption of exceptional measures is confirmed in every respect with the persistence of violations of fundamental freedoms and the permanence of a security apparatus in freewheel, acting with impunity.
In this regard, the observation of the continuity of the violence and abuses committed by the security apparatus before the 25th July remains valid. Even more worrying are the numerous acts of violence against journalists, the repression of human rights activists and the use of military justice to try civilians on the basis of obsolete laws. In the background, the President of the Republic is adopting and disseminating an increasingly divisive and highly polarizing discourse. If July 25 did not immediately provoke firm positions, both inside the country and abroad, political parties, associations, the labour union UGTT as well as international partners are now all hardening their discourse - in light, in particular, of the Decree 117 and the continued freezing of the ARP. And if the appointment of
1