Tunisia s president is locking up political opponents and inciting racist violence, as the country s economy plunges into further chaos, President Kaïs Saïed is making good on his 28 December promise to crack down on what he calls the enemies of Tunisia . In the past few weeks, he has imprisoned political heavyweights including Noureddine Bhiri, a senior official in Islamist Ennahda party, influential activist Khayam Turki, and the former kingmaker for former President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, Kamel Eltaïef. Leaders from the National Salvation Front and other political activists have been locked up too.
Statement to the National Security Council follows deepening crackdown on opposition and dissidents, After President Kaïs Saïed told the National Security Council in Tunis there was a plot to settle migrants from south of the Sahara in Tunisia, the African Union swiftly condemned his remarks with deep shock and concern at their form and substance.
, Pressure on President Kaïs Saïed to step down is mounting after a series of political reverses and stark evidence of his diminishing popularity, the most recent of which was the abstention of 89% of the electorate in the second round of the parliamentary elections on 29 January. Only 8.8% of voters voted in the first, in December.
Union strike action could strengthen opposition to regime s growing authoritarianism but outsiders steer clear, The scale of the backlash by voters, just 8.8% of whom turned out in Saturday s parliamentary elections, according to Tunisia s electoral commission, is a major blow to President Kaïs Saïed s credibility. With most of the main political parties boycotting the elections, a low turnout was highly likely. The scale of it will come as a surprise although Saïed has made no secret of his disdain for parliamentary democracy.
The country s biggest union boss has launched a major attack on the president, but voter indifference is widespread, Tunisia s powerful trade union federation has launched its biggest public attack on President Kaïs Saïed s political and economic programme, publicly rejecting the polls planned for 17 December.