kais-saied
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- Ruth Hanau Santini 28 October 2024Ruth Hanau Santini, associate professor of Politics and International relations at the University of Naples L’Orientale, discusses how Tunisia’s democratic backslide stemmed from unimplemented reforms and an elite-driven process that sidelined public trust. These issues ultimately paved the way for populist influence, culminating in Tunisia’s current political crisis.
- Federica Zoja 21 October 2024After surpassing 90 percent approval in the first round of the presidential elections on October 6, incumbent Tunisian leader Kais Saied faces his new term in a political, social, and economic climate vastly different from that of 2019. We discussed this shift with writer and essayist Hatem Nafty, whose latest work, Notre ami Kaïs Saïed. Essai sur la démocrature tunisienne (Our Friend Kais Saied: An Essay on the Tunisian Dictatorship), was presented in late September.
- Ruth Hanau Santini 30 September 2024Since July 25, 2021, Tunisia has been in a state of self-coup. President Kais Saied, elected two years earlier, suspended parliament that summer, had the prime minister resign, and issued two presidential decrees that consolidated all executive powers in his hands – rather than sharing them with the prime minister, as outlined in the 2014 Constitution.
- Sharan Grewal 5 September 2024Sharan Grewal, Assistant Professor of Government at William & Mary, discusses Tunisia’s democratic collapse, attributing it to excessive consensus between political factions, which led to public disillusionment and the rise of populist leader Kais Saied. While a short-term return to democracy is unlikely due to Saied’s popularity, there may be a chance in the future.
- Radwan Masmoudi 27 August 2024For years, Tunisia was viewed as a democratic success in the Arab world. However, according to Radwan Masmoudi, President of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID), it ultimately failed because it was still in the process of developing into a full democracy, with weak political parties, unaddressed economic issues, and declining international support undermining its progress.
- Ruth Hanau Santini 24 May 2024Next autumn Tunisians will go to the polls to elect the President of the Republic. The Election’s date has not been confirmed, and the main opposition coalition, Chebbi’s National Salvation Front, has announced they will boycott the vote unless three conditions will be met: the electoral commission will be independent, the main Islamist party, Ennahda, will be allowed to re-open its headquarters, and all political prisoners will be freed. When Tunisians last voted for presidential elections, all those conditions were in place, but in the past few years, political and civil liberties have shrunk to the extent that the country is not only “partly” free but its democratic ranking continues to deteriorate, year on year.
- Ilaria Romano 6 October 2023A reportage about the sub-Saharian migrants who arrived in Tunisia with the idea of embarking and reaching Italian shores after grueling journeys and long periods of detention behind them, spent in migrant centers in Libya. In many of their stories, they have already attempted the crossing to the Italian island of Lampedusa, but have been stopped and sent back by the National Guard, or have been left at the mercy of the waves with their engine failing before being brought back to shore by some passing fishing boat
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- Ruth Hanau Santini 11 September 2023Few commentators make predictions these days about Tunisia, with the exception of its financial resilience deemed to be now overstretched and foreign reserves hardly covering the country’s needs in the autumn. Whether Kais Saied will be able to pull a last minute trick out of the autocratic hat, or whether Tunisia will face a default and financial and social collapse is anyone’s guess.
