Author: David Hearst
Affiliation: The Middle East Eye
Organization/Publisher: The Middle East Eye
Date/Place: July 27, 2021/UK
Type of Literature: Opinion
Word Count: 1546
Link: https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/tunisia-coup-kais-saied-nothing-constitutional
Keywords: Tunisia, Kais Saied, coup, Ennahda
Brief:
The author elaborates how Kais Saied’s coup was planned a long time ago. Saied has assigned himself attorney general and seized all executive power in Tunisia. Saied presents the coup as a response to the devastation affected by the pandemic; however, David Hearst details the contents of a leaked letter that indicate the coup was planned several months before the virus spread. Even more, the health minister Abdellatif Mekki—from the Ennahda party—was dealing with the pandemic in a very decent way, and his work was praised as a model in the Arab world. Thus, the author asserts no real relations between the coup and the pandemic since the coup’s plan existed when the virus was under control. Other than the Achaab party, all political parties in Tunisia from the secular as well as the Islamist are against the coup, from Ennahda, al Karama, Qalb Tunis, to Al Joumhouri. The author emphasizes that this coup is not about ideology since none of the ministers were from Ennahda; instead, it is about power, and Saied wanted it all.
By: Fadi Zatari, CIGA Senior Research Associate
