![]() ![]() ![]() In 1987, Bourguiba was deposed by prime minister Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in a bloodless coup after doctors declared the ageing president was no longer mentally fit to rule.īen Ali developed the economy, but turned Tunisia into a police state and allowed his clan to build fabulous wealth through corruption and monopolies. He was elected and re-elected in multiple votes, often clearly rigged, before being toppled by popular protests in 2011 after 23 years in power. Arab Spring torchbearer - The central town of Sidi Bouzid became the birthplace of Tunisia's revolution when a young fruit seller set himself on fire there in December 2010, protesting police harassment and unemployment. The desperate act of university graduate Mohamed Bouazizi, who died days later, triggered weeks of mass protests against unemployment, high living costs, nepotism and state repression which were brutally repressed.īen Ali's announcement that he would not seek re-election failed to appease the huge crowds calling for him to leave. On January 14, 2011, he fled to Saudi Arabia. Tunisia's revolution inspired other Arab nations to rise up and topple autocratic leaders, including Egypt's Hosni Mubarak and Libya's Moamer Kadhafi.īut most of the revolts ended in civil war or military-led counter-revolutions. Secularists vs Islamists - Tunisia's first free elections were held in October 2011 to choose an assembly to write a new constitution. The polls were won by the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha movement. Lawmakers adopted the new constitution in January 2014, after two years of political turmoil that exposed deep rifts between Ennahdha and the secular opposition. In October 2014, the secular Nidaa Tounes party won a parliamentary election. Two months later, its elderly leader Beji Caid Essebsi won the country's first free presidential election. In 2019, Ennahdha again became the biggest bloc in the deeply fragmented parliament, holding a quarter of the seats. Retired university professor Kais Saied was elected president on an anti-establishment platform. Seeking bailout - Tunisia, which has been in economic crisis since the revolution, is in talks with the International Monetary Fund about a bailout package to save it from bankruptcy. The country was plunged into yet another political crisis after President Saied sacked the government and suspended parliament in July 2021, accusing them of incompetence. ![]()
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