Power seized by the president in Tunisia

By: Jeremy Glass
Apr 29, 2022


On March 31, Tunisian President Kais Saied dissolved the Tunisian parliament, after suspending it last yearwhen he claimed emergency powers as a response to the economic crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic. Saied has yet to announce a fresh parliamentary election, as the constitution requires. In early February this year, he also suspended the supreme judiciary council.

This week’s graph shows the undermining of the principle of separation of power in Tunisia and the public reaction against that trend. Saied portrayed himself as the country’s savior against corrupt judges. Accordingly, government attacks on judiciary processes sharply increased in 2021. While it is not shown in the figure, the new V-Dem data indicates that there is no effective legislature in Tunisia, reflecting the president’s closure of parliament in 2021. Such signals of a rise in autocratization, especially a concentration of the power within the executive, triggered thousands of Tunisians to protest against Saied’s administration.