Tunisia

• Greatly shortened introduction and general overview
• Many updates stem from the new constitution introduced in 2014 which has triggered wide-ranging reforms, including some initiatives to decentralise competences​

1. Introduction

Summary:
- Tunisia has been a unitary state since pre-colonial times to ensure national coherence.
- Tunisia is divided into 24 governorates and 264 municipalities which are the level below the governorates. The new constitution, adopted on 6 January 2014, reflects concerns about local democracy and explicitly enshrines concepts such as local government, decentralisation, local interests, administrative freedom, election of councils, autonomous powers etc. Its implementation in practice should give rise to a genuine political, legal, cultural and administrative revolution.

 
1.1. Central level

The new 2014 Constitution provides for a hybrid system: the president is directly elected by the people but executive power is essentially in the hands of the head of government.

Legislative power in Tunisia is by a unicameral parliament.[1] The Assembly of the Representatives of the People exercises legislative power. The decentralised authorities have no legislative powers.

The Constitution was drafted taking into account the principles of:
- electing local councils;
- free administration; and
- functional and financial autonomy[2].
Overall, the country remains a centralised state, but one with informal deconcentrated authorities (officials put in charge of subnational administrations but little autonomy) and formal decentral authorities.

1.2. Regional level

Under the new 2014 Constitution, Tunisia is a decentralised unitary state, which, in addition to municipal councils and governorate regional councils, also has "regions". None of these administrative divisions has any legislative remit. Article 12 stipulates that "the State shall strive to achieve social justice, sustainable development and balance between regions, with reference to development indicators and in accordance with the principle of positive discrimination"[3].
The regions (iklim) encompass more than one governorate and are managed by the councils of the regions elected by the members of local and regional authorities. The region is the primary administrative division. The new constitution enshrines the regions without naming or defining them.
The governorate (wilaya) is a sub-national authority within Tunisia. As a deconcentrated administrative structure, it is run by the governor, who represents the interior minister. As a decentralised authority, the governorate is managed by a governorate regional council, as provided for in the 1989 organic law on regional councils (its composition was discussed above). In the new set-up under the 2014 Constitution, the governorate is the level just below the region, which brings together several governorates. Currently, Tunisia is divided into 24 governorates, namely: Tunis, Ariana, Ben Arous, Mannouba, Bizerte, Nabeul, Béja, Jendouba, Zaghouan, Siliana, Le Kef, Sousse, Monastir, Mahdia, Kasserine, Sidi Bouzid, Kairouan, Gafsa, Sfax, Gabès, Médenine, Tozeur, Kebili and Ttataouine.
In practice, the remit of the regional council boils down to coordinating the implementation of development projects adopted by the government ministries, giving its opinion on economic and social issues and coordinating projects between municipalities within the same governorate. Governors primarily respond to the Ministry of the Interior.[4] Governors have trusteeship over local authorities.
1.3. Local level
In the new constitution, Chapter VII, entitled "Local government" sets out the arrangements for local and regional authorities. It comprises Articles 131 to 142 and enshrines the principles of electing municipal and regional councils (Article 133), the legal personality and financial and administrative autonomy of local and regional authorities (Article 132) and free administration (Article 132). The text also enshrines the regional and local authorities' own powers, those shared with the central authority and the powers transferred by the latter (Article 134).

As with the governorates, municipalities in Tunisia do not have significant powers. Article 36 of Organic Law No 75-33 of 14 May 1975 regarding municipalities[5] stipulates that: through its deliberations, the municipal council manages local affairs:
- It reviews and approves the municipal budget;
- It sets, within the limits of the municipality's resources and of the resources made available to it, the authority's equipment programme;
- It establishes, in line with the national development plan, the measures to be taken to foster the development of the local area;
- It gives its opinion on all matters of local interest, particularly regarding economic, social and cultural affairs and whenever this is required by the various laws and regulations or requested by the higher administration;
- It is consulted in advance on any project to be carried out by the State or any other authority or public body in the territory of the municipality.

Local taxation in Tunisia is governed by Law No 97-11 of 3 February 1997 enacting the local tax code. Local taxes are based on the tax on buildings and on undeveloped land, the tax on industrial, commercial and professional establishments, the hotel tax, the tax on entertainment and the licence fees for licensed premises[6].

Following the entry into force of the new constitution, the Tunisian government launched a USD 770 million five-year municipal investment plan for the period 2014-2019 to build up the capacity of Tunisia's municipalities. In 2014, in support of this plan, the World Bank approved funding of USD 300 million for an urban development and local governance programme encompassing all of Tunisia's 264 municipalities[7].



[1] Article 50 of the 2014 Constitution.

[2] See the commission's final report on the National Constituent Assembly's website: http://www.anc.tn/site/main/AR/docs/rapport_final/rapport_final_3.pdf (AR), (consulted on 23 September 2013).

[3] Article 12 of the 2014 Constitution.

[4] http://www.cities-localgovernments.org/gold/Upload/country_profile/Tunisia.pdf

[5] Despite all the amendments that have been made to this organic law, none has affected Article 36, which lists the powers of the municipal council.

[6] The local tax is payable to the municipality. There are no specific taxes payable to the regional councils. For more information, see http://www.impots.finances.gov.tn/documentation/impots_fr/tcl_fr_1.htm (FR).

[7] http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2014/07/24/world-bank-300-million-program-strengthen-local-governments-tunisia