Tunisia's Saied unpicks young 'Arab Spring' democracy
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[July 01, 2022]
By Angus McDowall
TUNIS (Reuters) - President Kais Saied has
proposed a new constitution that would formalise his sweeping seizure of
powers after dismantling much of Tunisia's young democracy over 11
turbulent months.
But as he prepares for a referendum to approve his changes, challenges
loom ever larger, with the economy facing collapse and opposition to his
rule growing.
A former law lecturer with a stiff public manner, Saied moved against
the parliament last summer, surrounding its building with tanks, giving
himself the right to rule by decree and assuming ultimate authority over
the judiciary.
He has depicted his actions as a corrective to political dysfunction and
corruption caused by the 2014 constitution that shared powers between
president and parliament.
But his critics say he is a new dictator whose power grab last year was
tantamount to a coup and whose march to one-man rule has trashed the
democratic gains of Tunisia's 2011 revolution.
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The constitution he announced late on Thursday enshrines a supreme role
for the president, relegating both parliament and judiciary to functions
of the state he will lead, rather than branches of power in their own
right.
Having framed his July 25, 2021, seizure of powers as the start of a new
republic, he has set the referendum on his new constitution on the
anniversary of that date.
Saied was a political novice when elected president in 2019. Less than
two years later, he outmanoeuvred his more experienced political
adversaries, including the Islamist Ennahda party, with his sudden moves
against the parliament and previous cabinet. These steps heralded the
start of his bid to amass power.
They appeared to be hugely popular among Tunisians who were fed up with
political bickering and economic malaise. Thousands took to the streets
to celebrate and the president basked in a stated conviction that he
represented the will of the people.
His supporters have hailed him as an independent man of integrity
standing up to elite forces whose bungling and corruption have condemned
Tunisia to a decade of political paralysis and economic stagnation.
But critics are deeply sceptical of promises he will preserve the rights
and freedoms won in 2011, which he has written into the draft
constitution, and say he is throttling Tunisia's nascent democracy.
Saied has painted his opponents as enemies of the people and has urged
arrests of those who defy him.
While it is unclear just how much backing Saied continues to enjoy,
opinion polls have indicated declining support. The economy is in deep
trouble and Tunisians are growing poorer.
The powerful labour union is already mounting public sector strikes over
economic reforms required for an IMF bailout and has also indicated it
disapproves of his referendum.
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![](../images/070122PIX/news_l25.jpg)
Tunisian then-presidential candidate Kais Saied speaks during an
interview with Reuters in Tunis, Tunisia September 17, 2019.
REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed/File Photo/File Photo
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Though opposition to Saied is fragmented, with the
most powerful parties refusing to put aside old differences to
reject his plans, it has mobilised thousands of demonstrators in
protests against him.
By contrast, after a pro-Saied rally last year that Reuters
journalists present said had drawn only a few thousand, the
president boasted that 1.8 million of his supporters had flocked to
the streets.
NEW REVOLUTION
Tunisian politics is closely watched abroad because of the country's
role in triggering the 2011 "Arab Spring" uprisings and its success
as the sole democracy to emerge from them.
Saied, a solemn, 64-year-old who speaks an ultra-formal style of
classical Arabic, wants to rewrite the history of that revolution,
when he would walk at night through Tunis's old city talking with
protesters.
He has changed the date when the state marks its anniversary to play
down the ousting of autocratic president Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali and
has rejected the results of hard negotiations afterwards that led to
a democratic constitution.
That 2014 constitution was the work of rival political parties and
civil society organisations who held a grand national dialogue to
work past bitter disputes for a compromise that seemed to bring the
country together.
Upon his election in 2019 as an independent candidate, defeating a
media mogul accused of corruption in a landslide second-round
victory, he declared a new revolution.
Besides dismissing the unpopular but elected parliament, Saied has
ousted the previously independent judicial authorities and electoral
commission, raising fears over rule of law and the integrity of
elections.
He has also purged state employees, including some in the security
services, to oust people linked to the main political parties.
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He has since said he wants to hold new parliamentary elections in
December.
For many Tunisians, Saied remains something of a caricature whose
frequent online videos show him lecturing subordinates or visitors
from behind the presidential desk.
Those videos have given few insights into policy plans to address
Tunisia's main economic problems, but they have often included fiery
rhetoric against his detractors and opponents, adding to fears the
president seeks autocratic ends.
(Reporting by Angus McDowall; Editing by Alison Williams)
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