By Staff Writer
18:10:2021

On Friday, Tunisia’s President, Kais Saied, revoked the diplomatic passport of his predecessor Monsef Marzouki, who was the country’s first democratically elected president following the Arab uprisings.

Saied has continued to concentrate power following the July constitutional coup. Recent moves saw him even freeze the salaries of members of parliament, which continues to be suspended.

International pressure has been growing, with US congress members and senators from both the Democratic and Republican parties criticising these measures. However, support from Saudi Arabia and the UAE has allowed him to stave off such threats.

Speaking to Radio Islam International, Mohamed Chtatou, a political analyst based in Morocco, noted Saied’s increasingly dictatorial powers, “He has stopped the parliament, and he has taken over all the powers, and nothing has changed since. Tunisia [is moving] towards a kind of global situation, the head of state only rules the government.”

Shtatou also noted the increasing pressure faced by Saied, “There is national [pressure] whereby there is a pressure from the street for him to move on these things, and then there is pressure from the political parties which have organised themselves in kind of one global movement, uh to go after the president, and then there is the international pressure from the Western world and from other countries who are asking the head of state to move on and make changes.”

Shtatou notes that this pressure may force him to relent in the medium term, but if this continues, it poses a great danger to the only real democracy in the Middle East. He also noted that Saied had two methods to return the country to democracy, reinstating parliament and calling for new elections. Saied is likely to move toward the latter, but only after restoring the system to ensure he remains in control.

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