Tunisia has summoned US charge d’affaires Natasha Franceschi in protest at Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s criticism of the north African country’s draft constitutional referendum.

After the referendum vote that was plagued with a low turnout and opposition groups reporting difficulties in observing the process, Blinken said the US “shared concerns” over the vote and over the new constitution. 

In a statement, Tunisia’s ministry of foreign affairs said Blinken’s remarks contradicted the principles of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations.

Tunisia’s Foreign Minister Othman Jerandi slammed the “unacceptable interference in internal national affairs” and expressed “amazement” at the US criticism. 

A few hours earlier, Jerandi had met with President Saied, who expressed his “rejection of any form of interference in the internal affairs of the country”.

The statement from the US’s top diplomat was one of the strongest yet in opposition to Saied’s actions since the Tunisian leader’s July 2021 power grab.

Blinken, however, was quick to add that “the US-Tunisia partnership is strongest when there is a shared commitment to democracy and human rights”.

Experts on US-Tunisia policy were quoted by Middle East Eye as saying that Washington’s reaction to Saied’s moves has largely been reactive rather than planned or strategic.

the lack of pressure has only made it easier for Saied to continue to dismantle the progress made in the nation’s nascent democracy.

“We’ve had multiple opportunities to realise that the statements from the podium or the calls are not working, and something else needs to happen. And I think that just hasn’t happened,” Sarah Yerkes, a senior fellow in Carnegie’s Middle East Program and expert on Tunisia, told MEE.