Abstract

Tunisia represented, for several years, the only success story of the «Arab Spring», having embarked on a path of democratic reforms that, despite many challenges, guaranteed, to a certain extent, the respect of the rule of law as outlined in the 2014 Constitution. This experience came to an end on 25 July 2021 when President Kaïs Saïed, exceeding his constitutional powers, declared a state of exception in which he assumed full powers, unilaterally abrogating the Constitution and drafting a new Charter. As ruled by the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the presidential decrees that dismantled the rule of law in Tunisia lack constitutional basis, thereby undermining the validity of the 2022 Constitution itself. Furthermore, the new Constitution fails to uphold the minimum guarantees for the balance of powers, thus solidifying presidential autocracy and raising strong concerns about a possible theocratic degeneration of the legal system. Despite the populist rhetoric of Kaïs Saïed, his actions can be characterized as a coup d’état, albeit initially supported by a strong popular consensus, and there are no legal or substantive reasons to justify the democratic backsliding of the country