His opponents denounce the “authoritarian” excesses of Kais Saied, who assumed full powers in July 2021.
Hundreds of Tunisians demonstrated Sunday in the center of the capital in support of President Kais Saied and the measures he advocates to redress the country, decried as an authoritarian drift by his opponents.
The demonstrators gathered on the emblematic Bourguiba Avenue in Tunis at the call of a pro-Saied collective, unfurled banners with the inscription We are all Kais Saied and chanted slogans calling for the judgment of the corrupt politician leader of the state constantly vilifies.
They also booed Rached Ghannouchi, leader of the Islamo-conservative Ennahdha party and president of the Parliament dissolved by Mr. Saied, which is his pet peeve.
Tunisia faces a deep economic crisis
Mr. Saied, who assumed full powers in July 2021, is the target of growing criticism from his opponents who accuse him of setting up an authoritarian regime that sounds the death knell for the fledgling democracy in the country from which in 2011 the first revolt of the Arab Spring started.
Several opposition parties announced at the end of April the creation of a National Salvation Front with the aim of uniting all political forces to save Tunisia from its deep crisis.
After months of political deadlock, Mr. Saied, elected at the end of 2019, assumed full powers on July 25 by dismissing the Prime Minister and suspending Parliament before dissolving it last March.
In February, he dissolved the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSM) to replace it with a temporary judicial oversight body whose members he appointed.
On April 22, he arrogated the right to appoint the head of the Electoral Authority, a few months before a referendum on constitutional reforms in July and a legislative ballot in December.
And at the beginning of May, he announced the establishment of a national dialogue that had been awaited for months but from which he excluded the political parties.
Besides the political deadlock, Tunisia is struggling with a deep socio-economic crisis and is in talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to obtain a new loan.
