‘For now people are happy’: the Tunisian president’s strong public backing belies deeper problems

The wind may be blowing in President Saied’s favour, writes Simon Speakman Cordall, but his lack of an overarching plan to tackle economic woes, unemployment and widespread corruption will pose problems

Demonstrators gather at Avenue Habib Bourguiba, in Tunis, to show their support for President Kais Saied (Anadolu Agency/Getty)

They came out in their thousands, some travelling from across Tunisia to lend their support to the president on Sunday.

On Avenue Habib Bourguiba in central Tunis, as in towns throughout the north African country, people came onto the streets to chant their support for the president and make clear their absolute rejection of the country’s parliament and the corruption there that they felt held sway.

In so doing, they threw their lot in with the president, Kais Saied, a political outsider and university professor whose 25 July power grab marked an end to the political status quo and a dramatic curtailing of the tired phrase, “the sole success of the Arab Spring.”