Tunisia Loses 8 Spots in Global Freedom Rankings, Freedom House

Tunisia registered a significant drop of 8 points in global freedom rankings, wrote Freedom House in its report “Marking 50 Years in the Struggle for Democracy”, published on Mar. 9.
The report covered 35 different countries that suffered from deterioration in their political and civil rights.
Tunisia earned the 3rd largest score decline of any country. Burkina Faso and Ukraine also witnessed a steep decline of -23 and -11 points respectively.
Tunisia’s decline was caused by President Kais Saïed’s actions, mainly unilaterally dismissing the prime minister, suspending the parliament in 2021, and dissolving the parliament in March.
Saïed enacted a new constitution that granted him more power and eliminated parliamentary and judicial checks on the executive branch, gaining ratification through a fraudulent referendum.
Last Dec. parliamentary elections, which were boycotted by most opposition parties, drew a voter turnout of just 11 percent and prompted calls from the opposition for Saïed to resign.