Poll: 81% of Tunisians are afraid of the future of democracy in their country

81 percent of Tunisians surveyed expressed concern about the future of democracy in their country, following the exceptional decisions taken by President Kais Saied on 25 July, according to an opinion poll conducted by Zogby Research Services (ZRS).

Since 25 July, Tunisia has been going through a severe political crisis. Saied began a series of exceptional decisions, including suspending the powers of Parliament, lifting the immunity of its deputies, abolishing the constitutionality monitoring body, issuing legislation by presidential decrees, chairing the Public Prosecution and dismissing the Prime Minister, Hichem Mechichi.

The recently published poll showed that 51% of Tunisians reject what they consider a “coup against the constitution” following the aforementioned presidential decisions.

Only 24 percent of the respondents believed that they are better off now than they were five years ago, while most of them expressed their dissatisfaction with the current situation.

The Foundation conducted the poll between 15 August and 5 September, and included 1,551 adult Tunisians, the goal being to find out to what extent Tunisians are satisfied with their living conditions and their optimism about the country’s future.

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Optimism about the future also seemed low among Tunisians, as only 30 percent of the respondents expected their lives to be better after five years, compared to 33 percent who expected it to be worse.

37 percent of them believed that things would remain, more or less, the same.

According to the poll, the most indicative expression of Tunisians’ deep dissatisfaction is the fact that 71% of respondents say life was better before the 2010 revolution which toppled former Tunisian President, Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali.

Is Tunisia’s state of emergency being used to restrict freedoms? – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/Middle East Monitor]

50 percent of the respondents expressed their deep concern about democracy following Saied’s decisions on 25 July, and 31 percent said they were a little concerned.

29 percent of the respondents said that President Kais Saied is the most responsible for the crises facing Tunisia, compared to 45% who held the leader of the “Ennahda” movement, Rashid Ghannouchi, the most responsible for these crises.

The majority of political forces, including “Ennahda”, rejected Saied’s exceptional decisions, and considered them a “coup against the constitution”, while other forces supported them, seeing them as a ” course  correction for the 2011 revolution”, in light of the political, economic and health crises (the Covid-19 pandemic).

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