The New York Times said that Tunisian President Kais Saied is focused on consolidating one-man rule, while his country suffers economic failure due to mismanagement, the epidemic and the war in Ukraine.

The newspaper highlighted that this is taking place amid the silence of the Tunisian forces that had previously helped spare the country a political crisis during 2013 and 2014.

Previously, post-revolution Tunisia slipped into a political crisis, and its nascent democracy almost collapsed amid a political deadlock, assassinations and unrest, said Vivian Yee, director of the New York Times office in Cairo that prepared the report, but a strong coalition of unions, lawyers and human rights activists He intervened to preserve the gains of the revolution and protect the constitution, and was able to get the country out of that crisis.

She said that the new constitution that was put in place after the revolution and the free elections that the country witnessed failed to provide the bread and dignity for which the people's throats were raised, which made the country now heading towards a disaster.

democracy assassination

Tunisia entered a new crisis when President Kais Saied dismissed the prime minister on July 25 and suspended parliament, and since that time he has been working to consolidate one-man rule, violating the constitution, legislators, the independent Tunisian judiciary and the electoral system.

Yi says that what is surprising in the current crisis is the weak response of the forces that intervened in the 2013-2014 crisis and saved Tunisia, whose voices were softer this time and contented themselves with some cautious statements.

In its report, it cited the opinions of some experts in an attempt to determine the extent of the decline in democracy in Tunisia, and to find the reasons for the weak position of the Tunisian forces regarding that decline.

Among those quoted by Ye was Monica Marks, professor of Middle Eastern issues at New York University-Abu Dhabi branch, who said that following the measures announced by S in July, many Tunisians ruled out Tunisia's return to a dictatorship, saying that community organizations Live civil will not allow this.

Marx saw that Tunisia's system of government had rapidly turned into a dictatorship, and that Tunisian democracy had not only been threatened, but had been assassinated.

Marx was surprised by the silence of the living Tunisian forces about what was going on, asking, "Why are they not doing anything?"

The newspaper's report indicated that part of the answer to Marx's question lies in the bad reputation that the young Tunisian democratic experiment gained among Tunisians, whether those who saw that their lives after the revolution were no better than they were before it, or the activists, journalists and members of civil society who flourished after the revolution.


Disappointment

The report indicated that a section of the Tunisian people met the measures announced by Said on July 25 with feelings of joy and saw in him the savior leader.

Human rights groups tried to partner with the president on reform, lawyers saw him as a leader with the intent to reform the judiciary, and businessmen saw him as a political leader who could reshape the economy.

But those hopes soon began to evaporate when Saeed began to rule by decree by September 22.

In his campaign to reshape the political system in Tunisia - and words to the author of the report - the president dismantled its most important institutions that emerged after the revolution, and when parliament, in a virtual session last month, rejected his rogue actions, he dissolved it.

Yi said Saeed is trying to secure approval to rewrite the 2014 constitution and consolidate his powers by replacing most of the independent electoral bodies and appointing individuals to lead them chosen by himself.

Saeed threatened this week to dissolve political parties, which was condemned by civil society organizations and opposition human rights monitoring bodies.

All of this is happening while the country is experiencing a stifling economic crisis with which the government is unable to provide salaries to employees.

Talks with the International Monetary Fund have also stalled over a rescue package that would only be a temporary solution, according to the newspaper's report.

The report pointed out that the Russian-Ukrainian war exacerbated the bad economic situation in Tunisia, as it caused an increase in the shortage witnessed by Tunisia in basic materials such as flour, which led to an unsustainable increase in prices. The government announced its intention to increase prices for the third time this year.