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The upheaval in Tunisia: the homeland of the "Arab Spring" in the battle for its future

Young democracy has reached a critical crossroads, after President Said decided to oust the government and freeze the elected parliament.

Its Islamist rivals claim they are being robbed of the revolution, and the coming days will determine where the corona-stricken state and the economic crisis are headed.

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• Tunisia

• Case Said

Guy Elster

Sunday, 25 July 2021, 12:05

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The president carried out a de facto coup.

His supporters celebrate on the streets of Tunis, tonight (Photo: Reuters)

Ahmed Afnawi rubbed his eyes in astonishment after removing his binoculars from the swimming pool in Tokyo - the 18-year-old Tunisian won the gold medal in the 400m freestyle, after barely making it to the qualifying final.

He became the fifth Tunisian overall to rise to the podium at the Olympics ever, hoping to bring some peace to his corona-stricken country and a severe economic crisis.

But the euphoria dissipated in just a few hours, as thousands of protesters vented their anger and frustration on the offices of the Islamist a-Nahda party across Tunisia, which they accuse of failing to deal with the epidemic and corruption.

Towards midnight, President Case Said, who promised to be above party politics when he was elected to office in 2017, effectively took power in a kind of presidential coup.

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In video: Tunisian president ousted prime minister and freezes parliament (Photo: Reuters)

The president ordered the removal of the prime minister, from whom he took last week the powers to deal with Corona and transferred to the military, the freezing of parliamentary activities and the removal of legislative immunity. He cited a vague clause in Tunisia's constitution, passed after the 2011 revolution, and did not set a timetable for a return to parliamentary rule. All of these are traditional ingredients in the recipe for brewing authoritarian leadership, in the style that characterized dictator Ben Ali until his overthrow a decade ago, at events that ignited the "Arab Spring."

Said's decision, who at the beginning of his term was considered to be closer to non-Nahda, has quite a bit of support for the Tunisian public. Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the capital Tunis and other cities during the night, in sights reminiscent of those historic events. Some have noted that this is the most exciting moment since the revolution, after in the past decade the so-called "only Arab democracy" suffered from political polarization, terrorist attacks that collapsed its tourism industry, rising unemployment and distrust of young people in state institutions.

In Egypt, Muslim Brotherhood members were violently repressed.

A-Nahda supporters outside Tunisian parliament this morning (Photo: Reuters)

Said's plan of action, which is supposed to announce further steps throughout the day, is not yet clear.

His supporters and opponents have already begun clashing near parliament, which is besieged by military forces preventing lawmakers from entering it.

Al-Nahda leader, Rachid al-Ranoushi, who is also speaker of parliament, was stopped by soldiers after reading the supporters of the party - the largest in Tunisia - take to the streets to "defend the revolution."

If you learn from previous lessons in the Arab world, steps Said May lead to the arrest and outlawing of party leaders, as happened in Egypt, when 'Abd al-Fatah al-Sisi overthrew the first democratic president, Muslim Brotherhood member Muhammad Morsi, elected just a year earlier. Egypt may have become more stable, but At a terrible blood price and in the trampling of civil space and democratic achievements in the February Revolution that overthrew Hosni Mubarak.

The assumption he wanted to bring to the state did not hold up.

Swimmer Ahmed Afnawi celebrates gold, yesterday (Photo: Reuters)

Young democracies always come to test moments, and this is Tunisia's crossroads.

Each camp believes that it is the purest representative of the revolution, and that the adversary is the enemy who wants to thwart the development and progress of the nation.

Everyone has a voice in the major Arab media: the Saudis and the emirates with Said, and al-Jazeera of Qatar with a-Nahda.

President Said's subsequent moves will indicate where Tunisia is headed.

If indeed it is only a matter of shaking the sick system and injecting vigor into the new democracy, or walking the well-known path of the leaders of the region.

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