The euphoria of the ‘Arab Spring’ seems to be well and truly over for Tunisia. The recent sacking of the prime minister and the suspension of Parliament by President Kais Saied seems to suggest that the transition from dictatorship to parliamentary democracy – Tunisia was the only country in the Arab Spring who managed to do so – has failed. But Africa expert and former Indian ambassador to Libya Anil Trigunayat does not think so. In an interview with Ashwin Ahmad, the ambassador points out that the Tunisian people are supporting Saied out of compulsion. A collapsing economy, lack of stable governance – Tunisia has had nine governments in ten years – and an inability to handle the pandemic has created strong public support for Saied. But such support will only be temporary. Tunisia has stronger democratic institutions than Egypt which has returned to dictatorship. This combined with the fact that western nations, especially France and the EU which makes up 75 per cent of Tunisia’s exports, is more than likely to prevail upon the president to return to democracy within 30 days. The future is uncertain, but we could soon see the return to new normalcy for the North African nation.          

Podcast Producer : Manas R. Tarai