Ten years ago, Tunisia opened a new page in its history. After 23 years in power, President Ben Ali was fleeing his country, the result of a month of unprecedented protests. A rev ...

January 14, 2011, the Ben Ali era ends in Tunisia

Tunis, January 14, 2011. © AFP / FETHI BELAID

Text by: Anne Bernas Follow

5 mins

Ten years ago, Tunisia opened a new page in its history.

After 23 years in power, President Ben Ali was fleeing his country, the result of a month of unprecedented protests.

A revolution which then opens the door of democracy to the Tunisian people.

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It has been a decade since Tunisia opened a new chapter, not without difficulties but with unprecedented speed.

The event that will bring about the fall of the regime that many Tunisians thought to be unshakable occurs on December 17, 2010 when Mohamed Bouazizi, a young merchant from Sidi Bouzid (center-west), set himself on fire to protest against the seizure of his merchandise.

From then on and for four weeks, demonstrations, first against unemployment and then against the regime, spread across the country like wildfire, no longer being confined to only interior regions that have long been more disadvantaged compared to those on the coast. .

Considered as “non-violent” according to observers, they will not be spared by the brutality of the regime.

The official toll of this month of clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, is 219 dead and 510 injured.

But despite police repression, protesters remain determined to end the 23-year reign of President Ben Ali, accused among other things of corruption and human rights violations.

Unprecedented bet succeeded on January 14, 2011: the president fled to Saudi Arabia.

The one who, in 1987 when he took power, promised "

a just, balanced, democratic society

died in September 2019 in Jeddah

The long democratic transition

As of January 15, 2011, the democratic transition begins.

The country saw its first free elections on October 23, 2011, aimed at defining the composition of the Constituent Assembly.

The Islamist Ennahda party obtains the majority.

With two secular parties, it forms a coalition and a power-sharing agreement is made.

The Assembly then has the task of drafting a new Constitution which will see the light of day on January 26, 2014.

The latter established a semi-presidential regime where the president retains powers in matters of foreign policy, defense and internal security.

The president is elected every five years by universal suffrage, for a maximum of two terms.

After having been postponed several times, the first legislative and presidential elections took place at the end of 2014.

Béji Caïd Essebsi

was elected president in the second round.

He gave way in October 2019 to Kaïs Saïed.

Persistent, or even worsening, difficulties

But despite the fall of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, free and democratic elections, freedom of expression that is priceless, the 11 million Tunisians remain bitter: the economic and social situation (the unemployment rate now exceeds 15%) is in the red.

In addition, the terrorist wave of 2015 which hit the country head-on weakens the tourism sector, an essential sector of the Tunisian economy.

Another expectation of citizens: the promised reform of justice but still not completed.

The strong man of the country has fallen, but hopes for a better life have been somewhat dampened.

Tunisia is theoretically a democracy now, but a series of technocratic governments have struggled to change things and balance the interests of the traditional elite with those of the underprivileged population

," said the Transnational Institute, a laboratory of ideas based in Amsterdam.

Indeed, the political class, more fragmented than ever since the legislative elections of 2019, is thus tearing itself apart without being able to take action.

The main party - of Islamist inspiration -, the Ennahdha movement, is struggling to constitute a stable majority in an Assembly where a multitude of parties sit.

The debates degenerate regularly, and blows were even exchanged a few weeks ago.

Thus, according to a

survey

carried out for the ten years of the revolution, 67% of the Tunisian population believes that the current situation is worse than in 2010. Social protests are increasing over the years.

Revealing the current crisis, Tunisians currently represent half of migrants arriving illegally in Italy: clandestine crossings of the Mediterranean have started to increase again since 2017, in the face of a lack of prospects.

Towards a national dialogue?

The social emergency is therefore increasing, with today in addition the dramatic fallout from the novel coronavirus pandemic.

On December 30, Tunisian President

Kaïs Saïed

said he was in favor of a national dialogue, as proposed by the UGTT union center (which played a key role during the post-revolution political transition of 2011 ), in order to find solutions to the difficult situation in the country.

The Tunisian president approved the organization of this dialogue "

to correct the process of the revolution which has been deviated

", and demanded the participation in this dialogue "

of representatives of young people from all regions of the Republic

The difficulties that Tunisia has been facing for ten years are therefore numerous and there is still a long way to go to resolve them all.

But the Tunisian people succeeded in turning the page on authoritarianism on January 14, 2011 and opening that of democracy.

January 14, 2011, the Ben Ali era ends in Tunisia

January 14, 2011, the Ben Ali era ends in Tunisia

The long democratic transition

Persistent, or even worsening, difficulties

Towards a national dialogue?

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