Five years since President Kais Saied’s July 25, 2021 power grab, the consequences of his consolidation of power are increasingly visible in Tunisia. Since suspending Parliament and later ruling by decree, Saied has reshaped and dismantled the institutions that emerged from Tunisia’s 2011 revolution, weakening parliamentary oversight, diminishing judicial independence, and narrowing the space for political opposition and civil society.
Tunisia’s democratic backsliding has unfolded against the backdrop of persistent economic and social challenges. Despite modest growth, Tunisia continues to grapple with structural economic weaknesses, high unemployment, rising living costs, and growing vulnerability to external shocks. The country’s dependence on food and energy imports, limited fiscal space, and stalled reform efforts have compounded public frustrations, while shortages of essential goods and services have underscored the pressures facing ordinary Tunisians, who are expected to head to the polls next year to elect a new Parliament. At the same time, concerns over the rule of law and civic freedoms have intensified. Journalists, activists, opposition figures, and civil society organizations have faced mounting legal and political pressure, while the weaponization of legislation like Decree Law 54 and high-profile prosecutions have raised alarm among domestic and international observers. Meanwhile, Tunisia’s foreign policy has also evolved considerably. As relations with some traditional Western partners became more strained, the country has sought alternative partnerships beyond its traditional allies as it strengthens ties with Algeria.
To examine Tunisia’s trajectory five years since July 25, 2021, The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP) hosted “Tunisia’s Democratic Backsliding: Five Years Since Saied’s Power Grab” on Thursday, July 23, from 10:00 to 11:30 AM EST, a moderated discussion featuring Mondher Tounsi, Sahar Mechmech, Tarek Megerisi, and Aymen Zaghdoudi, moderated by Mai El-Sadany. Speakers addressed key questions: Five years since Saied’s power grab, how have governance, economic, and foreign policy evolved? How have civil society actors, labor organizations, and opposition groups responded to the moment? What policy options remain available? And what do these trends suggest about Tunisia’s future political and economic trajectory?
Watch the discussion:
Speaker profiles:
Mondher Tounsi
Mondher Tounsi is a Nonresident Fellow at TIMEP focusing on governance and the rule of law in Tunisia. He is a political scientist and analyst specializing in migration governance, political economy, and security in the MENA region, with a particular focus on Tunisia and Mediterranean affairs. He has worked as a consultant with a number of think tanks and civil society organizations on Tunisia, producing political risk analysis and research on migration, governance, and regional affairs for international stakeholders. Alongside his analytical work, Mondher is pursuing a PhD at the University of Oxford, where his research focuses on authoritarian consolidation and state transformation in the MENA region in the post-2020 context. He holds an MA in International Security from Sciences Po Paris.
Sahar Mechmech
Sahar Mechmech is the Inclusive Economies Manager at TIMEP. She holds an MA in International Relations from Syracuse University, and a Master of Management of Non-Profit Organizations from Tunis Business School. She has worked as a consultant, contributor, and policy analyst with various actors in Tunisia and the MENA region including Oxfam, Al Bawsala, and Aswat Nissa. She specializes in issues of economic justice as it intersects with inequality, gender, and climate.
Aymen Zaghdoudi
Dr. Aymen Zaghdoudi is an assistant professor at the Institute of Press and Information Sciences in Tunisia, where he teaches press law, media and social media regulation, and constitutional law. His work focuses on freedom of expression, social media regulation, and cybercrime issues.
Tarek Megerisi
Tarek Megerisi is the Director of information consultancy Informmi and a Visiting Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), where he leads their North Africa work. He was formerly a Senior Policy Fellow for MENA at ECFR. For more than a decade, Megerisi has worked with various regional, European, and multilateral authorities on providing reform and stabilisation assistance to transitional states in the Middle East and North Africa. He has been involved in a range of projects, including post-conflict stabilisation, development and democratisation, Libya’s domestic and international political processes, economic reform in Tunisia, and the eastern Mediterranean disputes. His articles have featured in publications such as Foreign Policy magazine and the Guardian newspaper, and he has contributed to think-tank programming across the United States, Europe, and the Middle East and North Africa.
Mai El-Sadany
ModeratorMai El-Sadany is the Executive Director of the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP). She is a human rights lawyer with a focus on the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Throughout her career, she has worked to expand creative pathways to accountability, to leverage international and regional mechanisms to advance human rights, and to publish accessible analysis and scholarship on legal, judicial, and constitutional issues. She was previously TIMEP’s Managing Director and Legal and Judicial Director. Prior to that, she worked at the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, among other organizations. She is a Steering Committee member of the World Movement for Democracy, a member of the Working Group on Egypt, and a Board Member of HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement. Mai holds a J.D. and certificate in refugees and humanitarian emergencies from the Georgetown University Law Center, and a B.A. in political science from Stanford University. You can follow her on Twitter: @maitelsadany.