On the eve of the presidential election, the Tunisian opposition worries about the decline in freedoms

“We want freedom, we want dignity, we want jobs for our young people,” chants a demonstrator, a few meters from a large police force.

Two days before the presidential election, a few hundred opponents of President Kaïs Saïed took over Avenue Habib-Bourguiba, in the heart of Tunis, on Friday. Some have in their hands photos of activists or opponents who are behind bars.

Around fourteen years ago, this main avenue in the capital was at the heart of the protest movement which made Tunisia the first country to enter the Arab Spring.

After the immolation of a seller whose merchandise had been withdrawn at the end of 2010, demonstrations multiplied. On January 14, 2011, this movement led to the end of the 23-year reign of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.

Avenue Bourguiba is called the avenue of the revolution, we have come to reexpress our attachments to the achievements of the revolution. Freedom, democracy, freedom of expression.

Bassem Trifi, who was on this same avenue in January 2011, has since seen his dreams of democracy collide with a completely different reality.

In July 2021, after a period of political deadlock, President Kaïs Saïed announced the resignation of the government and the suspension of the Assembly. The following year, the democratically elected president in 2019 confirmed the amendment to the constitution, granting him more power. Only around 30% of voters voted in the referendum.

On Sunday, the head of state intends to be re-elected for a second term at the head of the country, in an election in which he faces little opposition. Only two candidates were allowed to run, and one of them was sentenced last Tuesday to a 12-year prison term in connection with his electoral sponsorships.

We are no longer in a democratic state. We are in a totalitarian state where the president has all the prerogatives.

Thursday, a few days before the vote, five left-wing parties organized a press conference to denounce the electoral process, which they intend to boycott. Going to vote gives it legitimacysays Al-Qotb party member Najla Kodia.

She represented her party at the press conference in the absence of her secretary general, also behind bars for eleven months, accused of financial crimes. Nothing has been proven yetassures Najla Kodia.

Support, despite economic difficulties

On the airwaves of a very popular radio station, columnist Khalil Rekik defends President Saïed’s record.

If he considers it normal to defend freedoms and fight decrees that limit press freedomthe columnist believes that these measures are part of a desire to stabilize the country.

When we use the issue of human rights to politically weaken power, I think we are moving away from our main objective.

Khalil Rekik thus recalls that the decade following the 2010-2011 revolution was marked by the rise of political Islam, by attacks and by great political instability which gave rise to great popular anger.

I think that Kaïs Saïed works well, a lot even. He’s a clean guy, he tries to make things rightsays a man we met at the central market in Tunis.

Having come to go shopping, he admits that the president nevertheless faces significant challenges, particularly on the economic level.

Despite a recent decline, the inflation rate exceeds 6.5%. Unemployment, recorded at 16%, is 40% for young people aged 18 to 24, many of whom are leaving the country in search of better opportunities, particularly in Europe.

If the country thought of us, we would think of the countrytells us a young engineer, who dreams of settling in Germany.

While many Tunisians do not hesitate to comment on the country’s economic situation, far fewer want to comment on the political context.

People are afraid, people are demotivated too. I understand very well their demotivation, because the current power listens to nothingnotes Bassem Trifi, of the Human Rights League.

A sign of this demotivation, in 2023, the participation rate in the legislative elections was only 11.4%.

By participating in demonstrations, like that of Friday, the activist says he wants break the wall of fear.

Aware of the challenges facing opposition representatives, Najla Kodia, of the Al-Qotb party, believes that one factor should not be underestimated: the fact of having already tasted freedom.

The young people who are in the streets today, who are demonstrating, did not live under Ben Ali, they were born free, they will never accept that they are no longer freeshe believes.