The 65-year-old president made no public appearances between March 22 and April 3, but resurfaced on Monday after media outlets, activists and the country’s opposition raised alarms about his “disappearance.”
Tunisian President Kais Saied’s almost two-week absence has raised questions about his health and succession in a country that has become increasingly authoritarian since he took power. In a video posted on the Tunisian presidency’s Facebook page, Saied was seen delivering a monologue to Prime Minister Najla Bouden, dispelling rumors about his health, including those of a stroke.
“This is the first time since Tunisa’s 2011 revolution for democracy that we have seen a head of state perform a disappearing act like this,” Marks told CNN. “But it is not at all surprising given Tunisia’s return to dictatorship.” Once seen as the sole democracy to have emerged from the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, Tunisia in July of last year passed a new constitution that cemented Saied’s one-man rule and was widely seen to have eliminated the last vestiges of democracy in the country.
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