Tunisian protests come 12 years to the day after the ousting of former autocrat, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, and 14 January is seen by most Tunisians as the anniversary of the revolution and the start of what was called the Arab Spring.
President Kais Saied has usurped almost total power. In 2021, the president sacked the prime minister, suspended parliament and pushed through a constitution enshrining his one-man rule. The new constitution gave the head of state full executive control and supreme command of the army.
Saied shut down the elected parliament in 2021 but low turnout for December’s election of a new, mostly powerless, legislature revealed little public appetite for his changes.
Only 8.8% of the roughly nine-million-strong electorate had voted in the parliamentary elections.
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