ARP: Study day on ‘Local authorities in Constitution of July 25, 2022 and their relationship with second parliamentary chamber’

Speaker of the Assembly of People's Representatives, Brahim Bouderbala, said, Monday, that the second parliamentary chamber "the National Council of Regions and Districts" will make it possible to achieve a qualitative leap in the economic and social fields and meet challenges in terms of regional development. Bouderbala was speaking during a study day held, on Monday, by the Assembly of People's Representatives on the theme "Local authorities in the Constitution of July 25, 2022 and their relationship with the second parliamentary chamber". For the president of the ARP, the two chambers share similarities and fulfill the same tasks of parliamentary control and examination of the State budget. Taking the floor, the president of the Parliamentary Committee on Administrative Organization, Development, Digitalization, Governance, and the Fight against Corruption, Ridha Dellaï, spoke of the importance of working on the issue of relationship management between the two chambers. For his part, expert in local g overnance, Mohamed Dhifi, reviewed a set of articles of decree-law n°2023-10 of March 8, 2023, related to the organization of elections of local councils, the line-up of regional councils and districts . He explained how to properly coordinate the work between the local council and the municipal councils, considering that "municipalities are not represented in the local councils", and in the absence of a law determining the powers of the local council. The expert recalled that according to the Independent High Authority for Elections, the prerogatives of local councils are enshrined in the organic law of 1994 related to the creation of local development councils. He pointed out the local council as defined in the Constitution of July 25, 2022 does not have the same prerogatives as the local development council adopted in previous experiences in Tunisia. According to the expert, municipalities are "excluded" from the new system of local authorities and the establishment of the second parliamentary chamber. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse