In July, when he suspended the constitution and assumed full powers for a month, Tunisian President Kais Saied replied to those who spoke of a coup by quoting a famous phrase from General de Gaulle: “It is not at this age that I will start a career of dictator “.
Almost two months later, however, Saied granted himself even greater powers, initiating a total presidentialization of the system, without any institutional counterweight. Once again part of the opposition shouts at the coup, even if the maneuver goes ahead by decree and not with tanks on the streets of Tunis.
Without saying it, the Tunisian president closed the page of the second Tunisian republic, born from the revolution of 2011 and legitimized in the constitution adopted in 2014. At the time, the new constitutional charter was praised for its democratic progress and respect for the rights of women. women, and was consequently considered the most advanced in the Arab world.
A country without institutions
The same constitution, precisely to avoid the drifts of personal power, had created a hybrid between the parliamentary and presidential regimes, which however caused a paralysis of the system. Saied intervened in July saying he wanted to end the stalemate, supported by a section of the population exhausted by sterile political rivalries.
The problem is that the president has made commitments that he is ignoring one after another. The full powers were supposed to last a month, but two have already passed. Saied should have appointed a prime minister, but he has not yet done so (and by now, even if he did, the post would still be emptied of all power by the presidential decrees). In the past, political legitimacy was guaranteed by the parliament, but today there is no longer a parliament, just as there is no supreme court.
These tears to the constitutional order are evidently blows to democracy, even if Saied cannot yet be defined as a dictator in the strict sense.
It is not yet clear where this path will lead, also because the Tunisian president is not very inclined to reveal his intentions. Meanwhile, the country begins to get impatient.
Certainly Saied wants to cancel the party system, which has not worked in the last decade, and has moved towards absolute presidentialism. But the line between an almighty president and a return to authoritarianism imposed in the past on Tunisians is particularly thin.
The president risks pushing his opponents who do not appreciate the turn that events have taken to radicalization, such as the UGTT trade unions, protagonists of Tunisian social and political life, or the Islamists of Ennahda, who could recover support by criticizing dictatorial drifts .
Saied, 63, may not have the soul of a dictator, but he is getting rid of the counterpowers that characterize a democracy a little too easily. And now even the people who appreciated his initiative in July are starting to ask questions.
(Translation by Andrea Sparacino)
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