Fatma Mseddi warns against employing polygamy to amend the constitution
The MP accuses parties of seeking to pass the political Islamist agenda and return to power through a family legislation referendum and invites them to direct election competition.
MP Fatma Mseddi warned on Thursday that the demand to allow polygamy would be a political entrance to constitutional reform through a referendum. Masdi's stance came in response to previous parliamentary calls for a referendum to amend the country's family laws.
She accused unnamed parties of seeking to pass the political Islam agenda and circumvent the constitution in order to return to the throne. The MP called on the owners of this project to run in elections and present their ideas and programmes directly to citizens through polling boxes instead of using the text of the constitution in political maneuvers.
Deputy Abdul Al-Star al-Zari had called during a public session in the Assembly of the Representatives of the People for a popular referendum to amend family legislation and re-authorise pluralism. Budget discussion sessions in November 2025 saw similar statements by the MP himself sparking parliamentary controversy and a backlash to bring the matter to public debate.
Tunisia's legal framework has explicitly prohibited polygamy since the issue of the Personal Status magazine on 13 August 1956, where the law punishes imprisonment and a fine anyone who marries while in the status quo. The Constitution of 2022 is also dedicated to the protection of women's rights and ensures equality and equal opportunities between all citizens and women.
Parliamentary data indicate the absence of any official legislative initiative or procedural steps within the competent committees of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People to amend the texts of the Personal Status Journal existing so far.
