TUNIS, Tunisia — One year after Tunisian President Kais Saied dissolved parliament, sacked the prime minister and monopolized all three branches of government, Tunisians headed to the polls in late July and voted on a new constitution that critics feared — and supporters acknowledged — would further enshrine a one-man rule.
Our North African nation of 12 million people sparked the series of revolutions across the Middle East and North Africa in 2011. Now opposition forces and foreign observers consider the July 25 referendum vote, which ratified the new constitution, as the end of Tunisia’s nascent democratic experience. This view is understandable given Saied’s controversial drafting of the new constitution to replace the 2014 constitution that was developed through a political consensus, given the relatively low referendum turnout and given the overall unilateral approach Saied has adopted since last year.
Tunisia analysts are writing the eulogy for the country’s democracy. Yet they’re missing out on another story that we have found in our work, researching and reporting across the country: Young Tunisians — who participated in the 2011 uprising that ousted dictator Zine el Abidine ben Ali after 23 years of rule, and have consistently taken part in protests in the decade that followed — feel otherwise. Tunisia’s youth are preparing for the battles to come. They’re focused on a renewed sense of resistance against all political elites.
