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President of Tunisia
Born
1958(68 yrs)
County
Tunis
Public Views
Experience
Documented career positions
Kaïs Saïed (born 22 February 1958) is the President of Tunisia, in office since October 2019. A constitutional law jurist and longtime academic, he rose from the lecture hall into national politics as an independent, anti-establishment candidate, pitching himself as a clean-hands reformer against corruption and a broken political class. He won the 2019 election by a landslide, defeating media mogul Nabil Karoui in the runoff. His presidency has become the defining fault line in Tunisia’s post-2011 trajectory. In July 2021, Saïed froze/suspended parliament and began ruling by decree—moves supporters framed as a necessary “correction,” while opponents and many rights groups called it a constitutional rupture. In 2022, he pushed through a new constitution approved in a referendum with low turnout, significantly expanding presidential authority and weakening checks and balances. Since then, Tunisia has seen a deepening crackdown on opposition figures and civil society, with mass arrests and heavy prison sentences reported in late 2025.
Elected President (2019): won a decisive mandate as an outsider, capturing public anger at corruption and stagnation.
2021 power reset: dissolved the existing governing balance by suspending parliament and consolidating executive control—seen by supporters as “rescue,” by critics as democratic rollback.
2022 constitutional overhaul: drove adoption of a new constitution that re-centred the state on a dominant presidency.
2021 seizure of executive powers: freezing parliament and ruling by decree remains the central controversy of his presidency.
2022 constitution and weakened checks: legal and human-rights bodies warned it concentrates power and risks a return to autocratic governance.
Crackdown on opposition: arrests and severe sentences for opponents and critics have intensified allegations of authoritarianism.
State reconfiguration through decrees and institutional changes: including restructuring judicial oversight mechanisms and governance architecture—praised by loyalists as cleanup, condemned by opponents as authoritarian consolidation.
Legitimacy and turnout concerns: major political milestones (notably the 2022 referendum) recorded low participation, feeding debate over mandate.