Editing Politics of Tunisia (section)

==Government==

Tunisia was a [[representative democracy]] with an executive president, a legislature and judiciary, starting with elections in 2014 until the president suspended parliament and began ruling by decree on 25 July 2021. Since then, all the trappings of an authoritarian state have returned. The military is neutral and does not play any role in national politics.<ref name=2020coup/>

===Executive branch===
{{See also|Cabinet of Tunisia}}
In Tunisia, the president was directly elected for a five-year term. The president nominates the candidate of the party that gained the most votes in legislative elections to form a government within a month. The nominee must submit his program to the Assembly of the Representatives of the People and get the trust of the majority of its members before being appointed prime minister. Regional governors and local administrators are appointed by the central government. Mayors and municipal councils are directly elected.

===Legislative branch===

Tunisia's legislative branch consists of the [[Assembly of the Representatives of the People (Tunisia)|Assembly of the Representatives of the People]], with 217 seats. The first elections for the Assembly of the Representative of the People occurred on 26 October 2014.

Before the [[Tunisian Revolution|2011 revolution]] the parliament was [[Bicameralism|bicameral]]. The lower house was the [[Chamber of Deputies of Tunisia]] (''Majlis al-Nuwaab''), which had 214 seats. Members were elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms. At least 25% of the seats in the House of Deputies were reserved for the opposition. More than 27% of the members of the Chamber of Deputies were women. The lower house played a growing role as an arena for debate on national policy, especially as it hosted representatives from six opposition parties. Opposition members often voted against bills or abstained. However, because the governing party enjoyed a comfortable majority, bills usually passed with only minor changes.<ref>[http://www.chambre-dep.tn/ The Council of Deputies] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100709222439/http://www.chambre-dep.tn/ |date=2010-07-09 }}, Republic of Tunisia.</ref>

The upper house was the Chamber of Advisors, which had 112 members, including representatives of governorates (provinces), professional organizations and national figures. Of these, 41 were appointed by the head of state while 71 were elected by their peers. About 15% of the members of the Chamber of Advisors were women.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.chambredesconseillers.tn/ |title=Chamber of Advisers |access-date=2010-11-24 |archive-date=2021-05-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503120545/http://chambredesconseillers.tn/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Judicial branch===
The Tunisian legal system is based on [[French civil law]] system. Some judicial review of legislative acts takes place in the [[Supreme court|Supreme Court]] in joint session. The judiciary is independent, although the Supreme Judicial Council is chaired by the president of the republic.

The [[Tunisian Order of Lawyers]] is a non-profit [[bar association]]. All Tunisian lawyers are members of the Order, which does not have any political affiliations.

The Constitution of 2014 provides for a newly constituted [[Constitutional Court (Tunisia)|Constitutional Court]]. It consists of 12 members, each of whom must have 20 years' experience in order to serve for a single term of nine years. Two thirds are specialized in law. The president of the republic, the president of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People and the Supreme Judicial Council each propose four candidates; the Assembly of the Representatives of the People approves nominations with a three-fifths majority. The Constitutional Court appoints its own president and vice president, both specialized in law.<ref>{{cite constitution| article = 118| section = 5 |polity=Tunisia |date=2014 |url=https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Tunisia_2014#s450}}</ref>