Fatma Mseddi warns against using polygamy to amend the constitution
A member of parliament accuses parties of trying to pass the political Islamist agenda and return to power by demanding a referendum on family and plural marriage laws.
Member of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People Fatma Mseddi warned on 4 November 2026 in Tunisia that the demand to allow polygamy would turn into a political entrance to amend the constitution through a popular referendum. The MP considered that raising this issue at this time was a political maneuver aimed at undermining the existing legislative stability in the country.
She accused political parties of seeking to exploit this proposition to pass on the agenda of political Islam and return to government and power circles.
The parliamentary assembly called on the owners and founders of this project to go directly to the ballot boxes and run for elections to present their ideas and programs to the people instead of hiding behind constitutional maneuvers. She stressed that the constitutional document should not be a tool or means used to serve party or political interests. These statements come in response to a previous parliamentary intervention by MP Abdel-Satar al-Zari, in which the president of the republic called for a referendum to amend family laws and allow polygamy. These interventions have sparked mixed reactions inside and outside the parliament about the violation of the human rights system.
The family regulatory legislative framework is based on the Personal Status Journal of 13 August 1956 which criminalizes and explicitly prohibits polygamy under its 18th chapter. The 2022 constitution also recognizes the state's commitment to protecting women's rights and freedoms, while the parliamentary arena has not seen any formal legislative initiative to amend those laws.
