Hello, I know this is kind of a sensitive topic, which is why this is a new account made with proper operational security in mind.
A lot of people still support Saied whether you like it or not, because he stepped in when everything felt like a mess after the revolution, or because they like his tough talk on sovereignty. (got rid of ghanouchi and stuff like that)
However, if you actually look at what’s happened on the ground, he’s put most Tunisians in a worse spot than under Ben Ali, we got less freedom and weaker economic results, all while throwing away the democratic opening people risked everything for in 2011, without fixing the big problems
Ben Ali’s time, at least in the earlier periods, delivered real growth, often around 4-5%, a decent tourism boom, and visible improvements in infrastructure and jobs, even though the cronyism and inequality were ugly and helped light the fuse for 2011. Under Saied, especially after the 2021 self-coup, the economy has basically flatlined
Growth dropped to something like 0.4% in 2023 and has barely crawled above 1-2% since. Debt keeps piling up, you still see shortages and inflation eating into people’s pockets, brain drain is getting worse, and youth unemployment is stuck near 40%
Turning down serious IMF reforms and leaning on domestic borrowing has created fresh risks for the banks, while the scattered deals with Europe and the Gulf only patch things up a bit
The contrast on freedoms feels even sharper. Ben Ali ran a straight-up police state, heavy handed especially with Islamists, but that was the reality everyone knew before the revolution
Saied got elected fairly in 2019, then suspended parliament, started ruling by decree, rewrote the constitution to give himself way more power, purged judges, locked up opponents from different parties, went after journalists and activists, and squeezed civil society groups
He took away Tunisia’s reputation as the one Arab country that actually got something positive out of the Arab Spring. Now it’s more like elections that don’t really mean anything. A lot of people say it feels like Ben Ali v2.0, except without the bit where the economy at least gave you some sense of stability and buying power
Governance under Saied just feels more personal and unpredictable. Institutions have been emptied out, turnout in votes is embarrassingly low, and it’s all built on populist speeches instead of any real structure or competent team. You see the tiredness everywhere people are apathetic, there’s growing nostalgia for the Ben Ali days among those who just want bread and a bit of normal life, and emigration has become the main way angry young people cope instead of pushing for real change
Look, this isn’t me defending Ben Ali. The guy earned the 2011 uprising with his corruption and heavy hand. It’s just clear that Saied traded away the democratic progress for a shaky kind of order that isn’t delivering economically or giving people back their dignity. We’re stuck with a bad false choice between fragile stability and stagnation
So... What do you guys think? Are there ANY real wins under Saied on stability, fighting corruption, or foreign deals that I’m missing? am I delusional?
TL;DR: Saied gives you Ben Ali-style (or worse) repression plus weaker growth and crushed hopes from the revolution. Net loss so far.
Stats i got from these sources: Atlantic Council, Carnegie, HRW, IMF numbers, Tunisian outlets.