Tunisia
The race for the presidential elections – set for October 6th – opened on the backdrop of a renewed crackdown on the opposition. In the latest edition of the Tunisian Official Gazette, only three candidates were announced as eligible to compete for the presidency at the Palais de Carthage: the incumbent Kais Saied, former unionist Zuhair Magzhaoui, and Ayachi Zammel from the Azimoun party. This narrow selection was drawn from approximately seventeen applications, which were excluded by the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) due to procedural irregularities and alleged misconduct. A Tunisian court sentenced Lotfi Mraihi, leader of the Republican Union Party, to eight months in prison for electoral fraud and issued him a lifetime ban from the presidential race. Abir Moussi, head of the Nidaa Tounes party and a former loyalist of Ben Ali, remains in prison following a lawsuit brought by the ISIE concerning accusations she made regarding the lack of transparency in the 2019 elections. In mid-August, three other candidates – Nizar Chaari, Mourad Massoudi, and Adel Dou – were convicted alongside Abdellatif Mekki, President of the Labor and Achievement Party, on charges of vote-buying. Even Zammel, admitted to the race by ISIE, has been placed under preventive detention for the alleged forgery of the signatures required for his candidacy.
The competition for the presidency at the Carthage Palace has also become the stage for the first serious judicial challenge against Kais Saied. The Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) – whose members are personally appointed by Saied following a decree-law he issued in 2022 – rejected a ruling by the Administrative Court, the body responsible for overseeing the electoral process. The court had ordered the reinstatement of three political figures (former minister Mondher Zenaidi, Abdellatif Mekki, and Imed Daimi) as candidates for the presidency. ISIE, which had cited irregularities in these candidacies, claimed that it did not receive the necessary documentation from the court in time to comply with the ruling. In late September, in response to this situation, the Tunisian Parliament passed an amendment to the electoral law, which, inter alia, removes the Administrative Court’s authority over disputes related to candidacies and electoral results, transferring this responsibility to the ordinary judiciary. This institutional conflict has sparked widespread street protests in Tunis.
Meanwhile, Tunisian security forces arrested more than 80 members of Ennahda, the Muslim Brotherhood-inspired movement and majority force in the Parliament that Saied forcefully dissolved in 2021. The raid marks the third and greatest purge of the last three years, which also saw the arrest of co-founder and ideologue Rachid Ghannouchi as well as several high-ranking leaders. Saied remarked his refusal to acquiesce to “servile voices” working for the country’s enemies.
Saied also turned the screw on his executive, which saw the biggest reshuffle since the president’s rise to power. Three undersecretaries and nineteen ministers were sacked, including the holders of Foreign Affairs, Economy, and Defense. Saied had already fired prime minister Ahmed Hachani, who had been in charge less than a year after his predecessor, Najla Bouden, was likewise dismissed. Defense minister Imad Memmich left his post to career diplomat Khaled Shili, while former Secretary of State Mohamed Ali Nafti took up Nabil Ammar’s mantle at the ministry of Foreign Affairs. Social Affairs minister Kamel Maddouri became the new prime minister of Tunisia. The reshuffle likely aims to strengthen Saied’s popular standing before elections and offer prospects of renewal before the multi-layered crises affecting the country, where cuts to water and electricity have stirred up protests in several provinces. Saied also stated that further changes of the guard may also occur as the electoral race progresses.
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| Head of state | Kais Saied |
| Head of Government | Ahmed Hachani |
| Institutional Form | Unitary presidential republic |
| Capital | Tunis |
| Legislative Power | Assembly of the Representatives of the People (217 Members), temporarily suspended |
| Judicial Power | Court of Cassation (composed of First President, House of Presidents and Magistrates; it’s organised into 27 civil and 11 Penal Houses) |
| Ambassador to Italy | Mourad Bourelha |
| Total Area kmq | 163.610 km2 |
| Land | 155.360 km2 |
| Weather | Temperate in the north with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers; desert in the south |
| Natural resources | Petroleum, phosphates, iron ore, lead, zinc and salt |
| Economic summary | Its economy particularly suffered from the global financial crisis of 2008, helping to start the Jasmine Revolution in 2010-2011, which led to popular protests, uprisings and a regime change. Despite the establish of a democratic system, the social and economic expectations of Tunisian people remain unmet, generating a lot of protests between 2019 and 2020. The social and political context has been aggravated by the pandemic of Covid-19, and this led the President to announce a temporary suspension of Parliament. |
| GDP | € 46.5 billion (2023) |
| Pro-capite GDP (Purchasing power parity) | $2889 (Dec. 2021) |
| Exports | € 18.2 billion (2023) |
| Export partner | France 29.4%, Italy 17.2%, Germany 14.2%, United States 4.12% (2020) Imports: $16.5 billion (2020) |
| Imports | € 23.2 billion (2023) |
| Import partner | France 17.6%, Italy 16.5%, Germany 8.54%, China 8.67%, Türkiye 5.57% (2020) |
| Trade With Italy | € 6,865 billion (2023) |
| Population | 11.896.972 (2022) |
| Population Growth | 0,69% (2022 est.) |
| Ethnicities | Arabs 98%, Europeans 1%, Jews and others 1% |
| Languages | Arabic (official, one of the languages of trade), French (trade), Berber (Tamazight) |
| Religions | Islamic (official, Sunni) 99.1%, other (includes Christians, Jews, Shia Muslims and Baha'i) <1% |
| Urbanization | 70,2% (2022) |
| Literacy | 81.8% (2020) |
Independent since 1956, the Tunisian Republic overlooks the Mediterranean Sea and borders with Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast. Most of the 11.8-million population is Arab. There are, however, Imaziɣen and European minorities. The country’s official language is Arabic, but French is widely spoken.
Lacking major oil resources, over the years Tunisia has developed a market-oriented economy and an interesting manufacturing industry, which make it a success story in Africa and the Arab world.
Italy has always seen Tunisia as a natural production platform for companies willing to diversify their activities and penetrate new markets in the Maghreb and, more generally, Africa. The country’s appeal stems from factors including geographical proximity to important markets, the availability of skilled labour and the presence of competitive high-added-value production chains such as automotive, textile and garments, aerospace, plastics, renewable energy, information technology and telecommunications. With a total trade of $ 6,47 billion (2021), Italy is Tunisia’s second trade partner. With a positive balance, Italy is the second largest exporter to Tunisia and the second largest importer from it, with a total market share of 14 percent as of October 2020. Italy’s economic presence in Tunisia is large, solid and dynamic, with around 800 companies employing over 68,000 people. Italian companies represent one third of the companies with foreign participation in the country. Most of these are concentrated in Greater Tunis and the coastal regions and operate in major manufacturing sectors, including textile and garment, energy, construction, automotive components, banking, transport, mechanical, electrical, pharmaceutical, tourism and agri-food.
