Kaïs Saïed, a president with full powers running for a second term in Tunisia

Millions of Tunisians must go to the polls this Sunday to elect their president. An election that many experts consider to be a foregone conclusion: since coming to power 5 years ago, the outgoing leader, Kaïs Saïed, has worked to concentrate all powers, and to methodically eliminate all forms of opposition and brought justice to heel.

This Friday, hundreds of demonstrators urged the European Union to exert more pressure on the Tunisian government, and denounced the very controversial migration pact, which made Kaïs Saïed an essential partner for Brussels.

“There are many young people here today, and they did not live under the dictatorship of Ben Ali. They do not know what dictatorship means. Repression, torture, imprisonment. They did not live under a Police state, but I am very happy to hear them today say no to a new police state”says Hamma Hammami, spokesperson for the Tunisian Workers’ Party.

This is the third presidential election since the overthrow of the Ben Ali regime after the Arab Spring of 2011, and the first since Kaïs Saïed established an exceptional regime in Tunisia in 2021.

The outgoing President came to power promising to fight corruption and empower youth and local governments. But his mandate is today seen as a disillusionment by many Tunisians.