Former Minister Faouzi Ben Abderrahman criticizes current Tunisian governance under Kaïs Saïed

He argues that the Kaïs Saïed regime has progressively stripped political life of its substance, a pattern he believes echoes the final years of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's rule. Ben Abderrahman states that Kaïs Saïed has "killed politics," which not only weakens parties, opposition, and intermediary bodies but also undermines the government itself by depriving it of mechanisms to understand societal changes and adapt to economic, social, and political realities. He suggests that public affairs management has shifted to the administration, with judicial and security institutions becoming primary tools to neutralize dissent.

While acknowledging the Tunisian administration's role in daily state management, he asserts it cannot replace political action, lacking the necessary vision, negotiation capacity, and political legitimacy for a national project. He emphasizes that a development plan is a political project, not just a technical document, requiring societal choices, economic strategy, and the ability to mobilize actors around a common vision. The absence of this political dimension, he claims, weakens the country's capacity for development planning and competitiveness.

Ben Abderrahman also highlights a weakening of political parties, historical national organizations, and press freedom. He observes that judicial and secur