The election of Kais Saied gives Tunisians something to cheer
Oct 17th 2019IT HAS BEEN a difficult eight years since Tunisia toppled its dictator and embraced democracy in 2011. The economy remains stagnant, corruption is still endemic, terrorism is a problem and politicians have disappointed. But the election of Kais Saied (pictured) as president on October 13th has brought a new sense of hope. After it became clear that Mr Saied had won, thousands of Tunisians gathered in the capital, many chanting the same slogans from eight years earlier. Mr Saied himself hailed his victory as a “new revolution”.What that revolution will look like is hard to say. In both style and substance, Mr Saied defies easy political labels. The 61-year-old retired law professor was an awkward campaigner, delivering stiff speeches in formal Arabic. He says homosexuality is “an illness and foreign plot” and opposes equal inheritance for men and women. He also calls for radical changes to the democratic system. He has no political party, yet he won the backing of secular and left-wing groups, as well as Ennahda, a moderate Islamist party, which came top in the parliamentary election on October 6th.Choose us for news analysis that respects your time and intelligenceSubscribe to The EconomistWe filter out the noise of the daily news cycle and analyse the trends that matterWe give you rigorous, deeply researched and fact-checked journalism. That’s why Americans named us their most trusted news source in 2017Available wherever you are—in print, digital and, uniquely, in audio, fully narrated by professional broadcastersThis website adheres to all nine of NewsGuard‘s standards of credibility and transparency.ORContinue reading this articleRegister with an email address