Despite pressure from harder-line Islamist parties to enshrine Shariah law into Tunisia's new Constitution (see
prior posting), the moderate Islamist Ennahda party has announced that the first article of the new constitution will remain the same as that in the current constitution:
Tunisia is a free, sovereign and independent state, whose religion is Islam, language is Arabic and has a republican regime.
The Ennahda party holds 40% of the seats in the new Constituent Assembly, and has forged an agreement with secular parties to reject demands for this kind of constitutional change. According to
AP, the founder of the Ennahda Party said at a press conference:
We do not want Tunisian society to be divided into two ideologically opposed camps, one pro-Shariah and one anti-Shariah. We want above all a constitution that is for all Tunisians, whatever their convictions."
