Saied in a sentence

In addition to European governments, observers have also Washington for its weak response to Saied’s progressive authoritarian actions as well as for its decision to effectively alienate Saied’s regime by slashing U.S. aid to the country in half.

For its part, the National Salvation Front on Friday promised to continue efforts to unite opposition groups against Saied.

From the 2019 presidential election until after the coup, Saied’s sweet talk gripped the public’s imagination and kept citizens dreaming of a better future.

However, a group of MEPs from the European parliament were refused entry to the country, raising fresh concerns about President Kais Saied’s commitment to address questions of human rights abuses.

However, opposition to Saied is fragmented along ideological and political lines that were drawn during the period of democratic government after the 2011 revolution which triggered the Arab Spring.

In July 2021, President Saied declared a state of emergency, dismissed the government, suspended parliament, and ruled by decree for about a year until a new constitution that concentrated power in the hands of the president was approved in July 2022.

President Saied wants to keep these subsidies in place no matter what, even as an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan for the country foresees the elimination of the payments.

Protesters at a separate left-wing march not far away denounced Saied's "authoritarian drift", which they say threatens the only democracy to have emerged from the Arab Spring revolts.

Saied shut down the elected parliament in 2021 and seized most powers, moving to rule by decree and writing a new constitution that he passed in a referendum with low turnout last year, actions his foes call a coup.

Saied’s popularity should be on the floor.

She visited on Tuesday and returned on Sunday with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen for meetings with Mr Saied.

Since Feb. 11, Saied has targeted opponents, including union activists, journalists, lawyers, judges, political figures, and one businessman, putting at least 12 critics behind bars and investigating dozens more.

Since taking office in October 2019, Saied has consolidated his power, dismantled the country’s.

Speaking at a ceremony on Tuesday, Saied called on the judiciary – of which he seized control last year – to “fulfil its role in this phase the country is going through”.

With a cult of personality taking shape, parliament’s back broken and a neutered political opposition, Kais Saied’s Tunisia is a world away from the one that gave birth to the Jasmine Revolution in 2011.

A group of around 30 NGOs denounced last week the candidates' "arbitrary detention", an electoral authority which has "lost its independence" and "the monopolisation of the public space" to bolster Saied's re-election bid.

But the country's path changed dramatically after Saied's election in 2019.

File photo: Tunisia's President Kais Saied speaks to reporters after voting in local elections in Mnihla in Ariana province, on the outskirts of Tunis, on December 24, 2023.

Hachani had taken office on August 1 last year, replacing Najla Bouden, who was also dismissed without an official reason by Saied, Al Jazeera reported.

However, rights groups now say Saied, in power since 2019, has undone many of those democratic gains while removing institutional and legal checks on his power.