Tunisia’s Zbidi says he will amend constitution if elected president

Tunisia's Zbidi says he will amend constitution if elected president
Tunisia's Zbidi says he will amend constitution if elected president

Tunisia's Defence Minister Abdelkarim Zbidi will amend the constitution if he wins September's presidential election to end an "unreasonable" division of power between the prime minister and the head of state, he told Reuters, a move rivals oppose.

Zbidi, among a few prominent candidates in a field of26, is supported by some secular parties, but he said in a Reuters interview onTuesday that he is ready to work with the moderate Islamist Ennahda.

He also said he would quickly reopen Tunisia'sembassy in Syria, citing a need for security cooperation and the difficultiesfaced by Tunisians living there.

Despite economic troubles, Tunisia has had a smoothermarch towards democracy than any of the other Arab nations that tried to followits example in 2011 by throwing off autocratic rule, and it will also hold aparliamentary election in October.

On the constitution, he did not say whether he would prefer to switch to a wholly parliamentary system or a presidential one, saying this was something that should be decided in a referendum.

The constitution agreed in 2014 after years of rule by strongman president Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali split power between the president and a government chosen by parliament.

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