In the night of the 25th of July, Tunisia’s president, Kais Saied, announced unprecedented measures that attracted worldwide attention and, perhaps, drastically changed the course of the country’s post-2011 transition. Saied, in a personal interpretation of Article 80 of the constitution, froze the parliament, lifted its immunity, sacked the Head of Government, and announced a 30-day transition where he will essentially oversee all three powers.
The same night, an impressive number of Tunisians spontaneously went out in the streets to celebrate the dismissal of a much-resented parliament and political elite that notoriously failed at representing the interests of the people that have elected them since 2019. Since, Tunisia has been living in a certain state of limbo. Saied announced no clear roadmap and there seems to be no communication strategy whatsoever. In parallel, the arrest of MP Yassin Ayari [1] and the assignment to home custody of the former public prosecutor of Tunis, Bechir Akremi [2], were largely covered by foreign media while Ennahda and its regional allies have been conducting a fierce counter-discourse campaign to frame the process as an interruption to democracy. So, what is really happening in Tunisia?