Tunisia 2002 Constitutional Referendum (abolition of presidential term limits)
الاستفتاء الدستوري التونسي لسنة 2002
Summary
Constitutional referendum held on 26 May 2002 under Ben Ali's RCD that abolished the three-term limit on the presidency and raised the maximum age of a sitting president from 70 to 75, while creating a second parliamentary chamber. The government reported 99.52% approval. The changes were transparently designed to let Ben Ali — who would otherwise have had to step down in 2004 — run again, which he did in 2004 and 2009.
Impact
A textbook democracy-axis manipulation: the ruling party rewrote the constitution to remove limits on its leader's tenure, entrenching one-man rule until the 2011 revolution. Illustrates an autocratic party using the formal machinery of referendums and constitutional amendment to defeat constitutionalism.
Parties involved
Sources
https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/bills/3a19c675-505f-4e24-a1f8-820baf41bd1a How to cite
This is a citation for the legislation itself — credited to Assembly of the Representatives of the People (Tunisia) and dated to its 2002 introduction. Tayyar is the retrieval surface, not the author. A separate "Retrieved via" line records that you accessed it through this dataset.
In-text: (Assembly of the Representatives of the People (Tunisia), 2002) (Assembly of the Representatives of the People (Tunisia), 2002)
APA 7Institutional author
Assembly of the Representatives of the People (Tunisia). (2002). 2002 Constitutional Referendum (abolition of presidential term limits) [Legislation]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Tunisian_constitutional_referendum. Retrieved via Tayyar (https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/bills/3a19c675-505f-4e24-a1f8-820baf41bd1a) on July 27, 2026.
Chicago author-dateCommon in political-science journals
Assembly of the Representatives of the People (Tunisia). 2002. “2002 Constitutional Referendum (abolition of presidential term limits).” Legislation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Tunisian_constitutional_referendum. Retrieved via Tayyar, July 27, 2026.
BibTeXLaTeX / Zotero / reference managers
@misc{tayyar-bill-3a19c675-505f-4e24-a1f8-820baf41bd1a,
title = {{2002 Constitutional Referendum (abolition of presidential term limits)}},
author = {{Assembly of the Representatives of the People (Tunisia)}},
year = {2002},
date = {2002-05-26},
type = {Legislation},
url = {https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Tunisian_constitutional_referendum},
urldate = {2026-07-27},
note = {Retrieved via Tayyar (https://tarekgara.com/tayyar/bills/3a19c675-505f-4e24-a1f8-820baf41bd1a) on July 27, 2026}
}