Whenever any country makes its first steps towards a more democratic government, we are easily inclined to conclude that it has become a democracy, however, real democracy is more than just elections.
Democracy stands for diversity, accountability, and inclusion, it means that politicians and political institutions are willing to respond to the needs of the population, and on the other hand the country’s population is able to call its politicians to account when things go bad as well as award them when things go well.
These kinds of changes require much more time and effort than just elections.
When it comes to Tunisia, the country holds the distinction of being the sole democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring, the wave of uprisings and revolutions that spread through the Arab world in spring 2011.
On one hand, since that time there have been six elections in Tunisia: municipal, parliamentary, which were held last autumn, with a President being elected for the second time, and presidential, but, on the other hand, in the past few years, there have also been political crises; young people are being radicalized, and the Islamic State frequently attacks the country.
Tunisia has not made it yet, the Tunisian people are frustrated for the lack of improvement in the democratic institutions, as well as dissatisfied with corruption and the poor economy, which led them to vote for new parties and new faces in the last elections resulting in a more fragmented political landscape and in the elected president, Kaïs Saïed, being a partyless outsider.
Having independent candidates is everything but a step towards democracy because lacking a political party means that the candidate won’t be held accountable if they lack in responding to the needs of the people, in addition, the creation of parties and institutions, such as municipal councils, city governments, ministries, and the Parliament, requires people who understand how democracy functions and have the skills to make a difference to that democracy, furthermore another aspect that needs to be taken into consideration is the fact that many believe that the lack of economic prospects is why people have no faith in democracy.
Despite all of this, after Kaïs Saïed won the presidential elections on 13 October 2019, thousands of demonstrators gathered in downtown Tunis, chanting slogans, waving the national flag, and for the first time in years celebrating enthusiastically a political event as he is considered to be trustworthy and impossible to corrupt, Tunisia’s established leading political forces, by contrast, were rejected by voters.
Moreover, the rioting that has marked the anniversary of the revolution shows that masses of people are deeply frustrated because, either unable or unwilling, the country’s leaders did not manage to tackle the dismal poverty and blatant disparities, in addition, infrastructure needs to be built or modernized, and public services must be provided and expanded, none of that is happening and indeed, poverty and unemployment rates have even increased significantly.
The immediate trigger of the recent uprising was the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, a vegetable seller, in the central Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid on 17 December 2010 because of police officers who had confiscated the goods of the 26-year-old merchant, depriving him of his means to earn a living, protests spread across western Tunisia immediately after Bouazizi’s death, quickly turning into a nationwide mass revolt against Ben Ali, who had held power since 1987.
With his downfall, the political transition began, and the dictatorship was dismantled, however, social disparities, a crippling economic crisis, and the country’s dependence on Europe for its foreign trade proved to be lasting problems.
Well, in a recent declaration, Tunisian President Kais Saied invoked emergency powers to dismiss the country’s prime minister, and, with help from the army, he suspended parliament for 30 days.
The President is now going to rule by decree, and he’s also taken on the role of public prosecutor meaning that he can directly send people to court, this has prompted fury and spread panic among the biggest political parties in parliament, who are calling this a coup.
In response to this, in recent days, people have been taking to the streets, but in large demonstrations, actually in support of the president, in order to understand this, we have to know that, this is a parliamentary system where the president and the prime minister are dividing powers, consequently people blame the prime minister and his cabinet and parliament for this poor economy, unemployment, bad health care, and lack of public services.
Political parties and civil society groups continue to reject President Kais Saied’s “monopoly of power”, demanding the right to decide their country’s future amid a worsening socio-economic situation; the Ennahdha movement, which held the largest number of seats in the now-frozen parliament, has been at the lead of the opposition parties protesting the suspension of parliament by Saied, his seizure of governing powers, and plans to amend the constitution, “We are not ready to go back to a monopoly of all power, to be under a one-man rule or one-party governance,” a leading member of Ennahdha, Gafsi stated, “We won’t give up the political freedoms we gained from the revolution,” he added, slamming Saied’s concentration of decision-making power and control over the judiciary.
The collective also demanded the resumption of parliamentary work, a defense of the constitution, preservation of rights and freedoms, and setting a date for early legislative and presidential elections.
Political activist and constitutional law professor Jaouhar Ben Mbarek, coordinator of the anti-coup campaign, declared at a press conference that meetings were held in an effort to “form a united democratic national front to fight the coup”.
Although Saied’s actions continue to receive support within the Tunisian population, the president has lost some of his popularity as growing opposition has become more openly critical of what it views as an autocratic trajectory.
References:
Tunisia: between untenable status quo and uncertain future, available at:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/16/tunisia-between-untenable-status-quo-and-uncertain-future
Tunisia shows that democracy will struggle if it can’t deliver prosperity, available at:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/08/11/tunisia-saied-ennahda-parliament-suspended-democracy-autocracy/
Tunisia was the only success story of the Arab spring now it’s democracy is in jeopardy, available at:
https://time.com/6089825/tunisia-democracy-in-jeopardy/
Is Tunisia’s democracy at risk?
By The European Institute for International Law and International Relations.
