Presidential Council and High State Council Members Cast Doubt on Tunis Election Deal

Five days after the '4+4' committee initialled a draft election-law and elections-commission deal in Tunis, cracks opened over its legitimacy. Presidential Council head Mohamed al-Menfi warned that 'the success of any consensus is linked to the clarity of its basis, its jurisdictions, and its applicability,' criticizing the ambiguous foundation of the talks; separately, Menfi and deputy Abdullah al-Lafi told US envoy Massad Boulos they 'reject any settlement based on limited understandings that could reproduce division.' High State Council member Nuh al-Malati said the council 'has not yet received an official copy' of the text and that the GNU-linked members who signed do not represent the HSC's official position. House of Representatives member Khalifa al-Daghari complained lawmakers learned details of the deal 'through the media' rather than a direct briefing. Legal expert Al-Mahdi Kashbour noted a gap between the signatories' authority and the institutions empowered to implement the deal, while analyst Elias al-Barouni said the pact contains no concrete election plan. UN spokesman Mohammad al-Asadi maintained it was 'an important step and a conclusion to the negotiations.'