World News
Five years after President Kais Saied took control, Tunisians face economic hardship and shrinking political freedom
Utility shortages and inflation persist across Tunisia as human rights organizations warn of restricted public dissent and legal crackdowns on opposition figures.
The short version
- Five years after President Kais Saied suspended parliament and assumed broad executive powers, Tunisians face severe economic distress, including water cuts, power outages, and medicine shortages.
- Rights groups state that political space for opposition, independent media, and civil society has significantly contracted under Saied's administration.
- Tunisian authorities maintain that prosecutions against political opponents, journalists, and activists involve legitimate national security offenses rather than political dissent.
Key facts
- President Kais Saied suspended parliament and dismissed the prime minister on July 25, 2021, later enacting a 2022 constitution that expanded presidential authority.[Al Jazeera]
- Severe heat reaching nearly 50 degrees Celsius pushed Tunisia's power grid to record levels, prompting rotating electricity outages that disrupted water-pumping facilities.[Al Jazeera]
- In April 2025, a Tunis court sentenced 37 defendants to prison terms in a state security conspiracy trial; an appeals court upheld convictions for 34 of them in November 2025.[Al Jazeera]
- Tunisia's unemployment rate reached 17.4 percent by the end of 2020, according to World Bank figures cited in reporting.[Al Jazeera]
What remains uncertain
- It is unclear whether recent demonstrations organized by groups like the Nafas movement will develop into wider anti-government mobilization.[Al Jazeera]