Five years after President Kais Saied suspended parliament and assumed emergency powers, Tunisia is marking the anniversary of 25 July 2021 amid its worst infrastructure crisis in memory. Between 150 and 200 people are reported dead since power cuts began more than a week ago during an exceptional heatwave that has also brought severe water shortages.
The death toll was reported by the Organisation of Young Doctors in Tunisia. The Tunisian authorities have not confirmed or responded to those figures. At least five deaths directly linked to power cuts — including a cancer patient — were reported by local media in the opening days of the crisis, when power failures caused home medical equipment including oxygen devices to stop working.
President Saied ended his public absence to acknowledge the crisis on Saturday, describing the pace of outages as "not normal" and saying those responsible must "assume their responsibility," without announcing specific measures.
The state electricity and gas company, STEG, attributed the outages to record demand driven by what its director general Faysal Tarifa described as "excessive use of air conditioning," telling local media that national consumption reached a record 6,000 megawatts on Tuesday. He said the controlled outages were a "preventive measure" to protect the national grid and prevent total collapse, and urged citizens to use no more than one air conditioning unit during peak hours between 1 pm and 5 pm.
A divided anniversary
The date has long carried significance in Tunisia's national calendar — it was the day the republic was proclaimed in 1957. Since 2021 it has split the country into two camps: those who regard the day as a moment that rescued the state from paralysis, and those who call it a coup against the constitution and elected institutions.
On that evening, Saied invoked Article 80 of the 2014 constitution to announce a series of exceptional measures: parliament's powers were frozen for 30 days, the immunity of all its members was suspended, Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi was dismissed, and Saied assumed executive authority, which he exercised with a government he appointed himself. The public prosecution service was placed under his direct supervision.
Those decisions set in motion a political restructuring that culminated in 2022 in a new constitution establishing a presidential system. The 2022 constitution gave Saied considerably broader powers than those set out in the 2014 text, assigned the president primary responsibility for setting state policy and narrowed parliament's role substantially. The document was approved in a referendum held on 25 July 2022, but with turnout far below that of previous elections, after most opposition parties boycotted the process.
Between Saied's emergency declaration and the adoption of the new constitution, he governed by decree, stripped parliament of its legislative and oversight role and dissolved it definitively in March 2022. In September 2021, Presidential Decree No. 117 formalised his assumption of wide executive and legislative powers. In 2022, Saied announced the dissolution of the High Judicial Council. Dozens of judges were dismissed by presidential order — a move described by judges, opposition parties and human rights organisations as an assault on judicial independence. Legislative elections held at the end of 2022 recorded a first-round turnout of just 9%.
Political repression and economic stagnation
From early 2023, judicial proceedings multiplied against opposition figures, politicians, businesspeople and journalists. Among the most prominent detained are octogenarian leader of the Ennahda movement Rached Ghannouchi, opposition figure Chaima Issa and activist Jawhar Ben Mbarek. Courts have handed down prison sentences against several of them which opposition groups and international human rights organisations have described as politically motivated. The Tunisian authorities say the cases are unrelated to political activity and concern acts they regard as threats to state security.
Saied and his supporters argue that the period before his emergency measures was defined by paralysing inter-party conflict and institutional deadlock, and that the new political framework has restored state effectiveness. Saied has repeatedly framed his project as a response to popular demand, saying in a December 2025 address to the nation that "social justice is the primary condition for stability and for further creation of wealth and employment opportunities," and that work was under way to "overcome all obstacles and inherited and fabricated difficulties." Critics — including domestic opposition groups and international organisations — say the changes have weakened the separation of powers and the rule of law.
The promises of economic renewal that accompanied the July 2021 measures have not translated into meaningful improvements in the main indicators. Economic growth has remained modest, private investment cautious, and access to external financing restricted. International financial institutions, including the IMF, have warned that rising public debt and weak growth are constraining the state's ability to fund investment. IMF negotiations stalled for an extended period, financial support programmes slowed, and European and US assistance has become increasingly tied to economic and political conditions.
The Tunisian authorities describe their approach as one of "self-reliance" — reducing dependence on external actors and mobilising domestic resources. A community-owned cooperative model has been promoted in some sectors, but results remain limited. The power crisis, coming on the anniversary of Saied's power consolidation, underscores the fragility of Tunisia's infrastructure and the unfulfilled promises of his project. As the country swelters under a heatwave that has also contributed to wildfires across southern Europe, the question of whether Saied's centralised governance can deliver basic services remains acute.
