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Tunisians fear for democracy after presidential election
from BBC MONITOR 33
Tunisia’s president has won another term, sparking fears for democracy in the country. North Africa specialist Sumaya Bakhsh reports.
Tunisian President Kais Saied’s landslide win in October’s presidential elections came as no surprise.
With a turnout of just 28.8%, the incumbent president won over 90% of the vote. He faced only two challengers after the electoral commission disqualified several candidates in the run-up to the 6 October polls, citing their failure to gather sufficient endorsement signatures and other technicalities.
Saeid, who took office in 2019, has been accused of mounting a power grab and crushing dissent since seizing sweeping powers in 2021, when he dismissed the government and suspended parliament.
At the time of the elections, many of his critics and political opponents were in prison or facing prosecution. They included prominent figures such as former parliamentary Speaker and head of the Islamist Ennahda party, Rached Ghannouchi, who is accused of “planning regime change”.
The North African country was held up as a rare example of democratic success in the region
Criticism
The imprisonment of another senior Ennahda member in July prompted criticism from a coalition of parties opposing President Saied’s 2021 measures. The National Salvation Front stressed its rejection of what it said were “escalating malicious political trials” coinciding with the start of the period leading up to the presidential polls.
Presidential hopefuls who were prohibited from running included prominent opposition politician Abir Moussi, leader of the Free Destourian Party (PDL), who was sentenced to two years in prison in early August on charges of “insulting the electoral body”.
Cabinet reshuffle
Meanwhile, a major cabinet reshuffle in the months leading up to the polls saw Saied replace 19 ministers, after he had appointed a new prime minister weeks earlier. At the swearing-in ceremony, the president reminded ministers of his overriding authority and launched fresh criticism at his opponents, accusing them of corruption.
Saied has frequently railed against individuals and groups he has accused of corruption and of plotting conspiracies. His rhetoric concerning the key issue of irregular migrants in Tunisia – most of whom are from sub-Saharan Africa – has focused on suggestions of a conspiracy to alter the nation’s demographic structure and identity, triggering growing hostility towards migrants.
Fears for democracy
In the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring protests – which in Tunisia saw the ouster of long-time ruler Zine El Abidine Ben Ali – the North African country was held up as a rare example of democratic success in the region.
However, a commentary in Tunisia’s Realites magazine in the run-up to the election described an “annihilated” opposition, a weakened civil society and an electorate “indifferent” to politics. As Tunisians face a further five years under Saied’s rule, many fear that the country will lose any trace of its post2011 hopes for democracy.
