Press review Africa Podcast Podcast

Headlines: Kaïs Saïed, new President of Tunisia

The official results of the presidential election yesterday in Tunisia are expected on Monday but the games are made ... The exit polls give Kaïs Saïed largely in the lead with three quarters of the vote.

Scenes of popular jubilation last night, reports the Tunisian news website Réalités : " Tens of thousands of people gathered on Habib Bourguiba Avenue in Tunis to celebrate the election of the new president. Tunisians chanted on this occasion many slogans to express their satisfaction with the electoral process in Tunisia. "

Yesterday evening still, reports the site Tunisia Digital , " Kaïs Saïed spoke from his campaign headquarters to thank all Tunisians 'those who voted for him and those who did not', young people and the not so young, not to mention the residents abroad. He thanked them for wanting to open with him a new page in the history of Tunisia and their desire for freedom. He congratulated the Tunisian people for the lesson they gave the world about democracy and respect for the constitution. He then wished to reassure the skeptics, promising to be worthy of their trust and remaining true to his principles assuring that he would do his best to build a new Tunisia. "

Refound the system

So for Le Point Afrique , this victory is far from a surprise ...

" The Saeed train has never changed direction. This apostle of the law, the law and the constitution, hammers out the same ideas of television news in cafes. In a jerky tone, which earned him the nickname 'Robocop', right as an i, thrifty of his emotions, he wants the application of the law for and by the people. He wants to overthrow the pyramid of power by defeating the Assembly of People's Representatives. He wants MPs to be elected by councils of local elected representatives to bring the people closer to power. For that, it will need a favorable vote of the parliament. "

In any case, continues Le Point Africa , " its broad victory means a vast rejection of the toxic political situation that has prevailed in Tunisia since 2014, widespread corruption and marginalization of part of the population. It is for the death penalty, the continuation of the criminalization of homosexuals and against the equality man-woman before the inheritance. It assumes its conservatism, judging that the Tunisian society is it and that it is useless to embark on it in debates off-topic, to waste time on this subject. "

Conservative good complexion

Indeed, points World Africa , " the 'revolution' of Kaïs Saïed does not unfold in all areas. As much as it innovates at the institutional level, so it remains of a conservatism good complexion on the socio-religious ground. "

What's more, says Le Monde Africa , " with Western partners in Tunisia, things will not be easy either. The new Tunisian president does not hide a sour sovereignism drawn from an Arab nationalist sensibility. We must also see here the source of his annoyance at the claims on the decriminalization of homosexuality or the equality of inheritance, "false + problems" in his eyes inspired by "European recommendations". (...) By choosing Kaïs Saïed, Tunisia has a new president more in tune with the Arab-Muslim identity of the country than his predecessor, Beji Caid Essebsi, trained at a pro-Western bourguibisme. It is a little , concludes Le Monde Africa, the image of Tunisia on the international scene that could be reviewed and corrected. "

Free of his movements?

So, will Kaïs Saïed have the means to his ambitions?, Wonders Jeune Afrique . With regard to its plan to overhaul the institutions, " the last word before the adoption of this reform would be for the Assembly. Any draft presidential law to reform the Constitution should indeed be approved by a two-thirds parliamentary majority. But JA point , in the absence of party and therefore MPs, Kaïs Saïd could struggle to get support in the hemicycle. Especially since such a project would require the next Assembly to dissolve itself to put it in place. "