Kaïs Saïed (; born 22 February 1958) is a Tunisian politician, jurist and former assistant professor of law who has served as the fifth president of Tunisia since 2019. He was president of the Tunisian Association of Constitutional Law from 1995 to 2019.

Having worked in various legal and academic roles since the 1980s, Saied joined the 2019 presidential election as an independent social conservative with a populist anti-corruption platform supported by Ennahda and others across the political spectrum. He won the second round of the election with 72.71% of the vote, defeating Nabil Karoui, and was sworn in as president on 23 October 2019.

As president, Saied has overseen democratic backsliding, as he has repressed the political opposition and dissidents in Tunisia. In January 2021, protests began in response to alleged police brutality, economic hardship and the COVID-19 pandemic. On 25 July 2021, Saied dismissed the parliament and Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, executing a successful self-coup. Since then, Saied oversaw the dismissal of the judiciary and arrest of his main political opposition figures.

He ruled by decree until he was successful in passing a new constitution which granted him more powers and called snap legislative elections. He was re-elected president for a second term in October 2024.

Early life Kais Saied is the son of Moncef Saied and Zakia Bellagha from Béni Khiar (Cap Bon). His paternal uncle, Hicham Saïed, was the first pediatric surgeon in Tunisia, known for having separated two conjoined twins in the 1970s. Saïed completed his secondary studies at Sadiki College.

Professional career A jurist by training, Saied is a specialist in constitutional law, and secretary-general of the Tunisian Association of Constitutional Law between 1990 and 1995, then vice-president of the association since 1995.

He was the director of the public law department at the University of Sousse between 1994 and 1999, then at the University of Carthage from 1999 to 2018. He was a member of the group of experts of the General Secretariat of the Arab League between 1989 and 1990, expert at the Arab Institute for Human Rights from 1993 to 1995 and a member of the committee of experts responsible for revising the draft Tunisian Constitution in 2014. He was also a member of the scientific council of several commissions academics.

In 2013, while a visiting professor at several Arab universities, he refused to be part of the commission of experts whose mission was to find a legal solution to the problem of the Independent High Authority for Elections. Saied retired in 2018.

Political career Political ascent From 2013 to 2014, Kais Saied participated in several political clubs and meetings, which bring together young people. In 2016, the Mouassissoun movement was created to support Saied's action and projects.

2019 presidential campaign

Saied was one of the first declared candidates in the 2019 Tunisian presidential election. Running as an independent social conservative, he had sought to appeal to younger voters. One of his policies included support for allowing citizens to recall their elected officials. Saied suggested to voters that many of Tunisia's current issues were due to "non-respect for many constitutional laws". He presented a plan to combat corruption, whether it is "moral or financial". Saied was supported by both Islamists and leftists. In a June 2019 interview with the newspaper Acharaâ Al Magharibi, Saied announced his support for the death penalty. He also made statements that public expression of homosexuality is financed and encouraged by foreign countries, telling the paper:

Kais Saied is against normalisation of relations with Israel, saying that Israel is at war with the Muslim world, and any Muslim leader who normalizes his or her country's relationship with the Zionists should be tried for treason. He said his country has no problem with Jews and that Tunisians including his father protected Jews during the Second World War.

Saied has also stated that he is in favor of a decentralised, three-tier, indirect manner of electing national legislative representatives, some elements of direct democracy, and believes that local representatives should be elected based on character and its underlying structure rather than political ideology. Due to his relative obscurity and lack of campaigning, several of his positions were not well-defined aside from his social conservatism. Despite being supported by Ennahda in the election and holding socially conservative positions, Saied did not describe himself as an Islamist and had advisers from across the political spectrum. He also is not in favor of adding religious elements to the constitution, stating that these were only his personal beliefs.

Several media sources referred to Saied as "RoboCop", given his monotonous voice, his use of Standard Arabic rather than Tunisian dialect, and his focus on law and order issues. On his campaign trail, Saied portrayed himself as a man of the people, somewhat similarly to Nabil Karoui, another populist candidate. Saied came in first place in the first round of the 2019 Tunisian presidential election which took place on 15 September 2019, and moved on to face Karoui in the second round on 13 October, where Saied received 72.71% of the vote, thereby winning the election. The preliminary election results were announced on 14 October, and later confirmed on 17 October, making Saied the new president of Tunisia.

2024 presidential campaign

In July 2024, Saied announced that he would run for another presidential term in the 2024 Tunisian presidential election, scheduled on 6 October. On 7 October, the electoral authority announced that Saied was re-elected president of Tunisia with 90.69% of the vote. He was inaugurated for his second term on 21 October.

President of Tunisia

Saied was sworn in as Tunisia's president on 23 October 2019, becoming the first president born after the country's independence from France in 1956.

Transition and investiture The results of the presidential election were announced by the Independent High Authority for Elections on 17 October. On the same day, Kaïs Saïed chose his brother Naoufel, also a professor of constitutional law, to appoint the advisers and members of the presidential cabinet. The office of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People met on 18 October and fixed the oath on 23 October. This date corresponds to the maximum duration of the presidential interim of 90 days.

Saied took his oath before the outgoing Assembly on 23 October, at the Presidential Palace of Carthage, during which he promised to fight against terrorism and its causes, as well as to guarantee the gains of Tunisian women, while strengthening economic and social rights. He later met with the interim president, Mohamed Ennaceur, who transferred presidential powers to Saied.

First steps Saied refused to stay at the presidential palace in Carthage, preferring his villa in Mnihla, located in the governorate of Ariana. On 30 October, he appointed diplomat Tarek Bettaïeb as head of the presidential cabinet, General Mohamed Salah Hamdi as national security adviser, with Tarek Hannachi leading the protocol. Abderraouf Bettaïeb was appointed Minister-Advisor to the President of the Republic, Rachida Ennaifer was put in charge of communication, while Nadia Akacha became responsible for legal affairs.

Government formation

The government being semi-presidential, Kais Saied had a week after his inauguration to instruct the party which took the lead in the legislative elections to form a government. The latter then has a month to obtain the confidence of the Assembly of People's Representatives. On 15 November 2019, Saied appointed Habib Jemli, the candidate for Ennahda, to the post of head of government and charged him with forming a cabinet. On 10 January 2020, the Assembly rejected the composition of the government, which was also subject to delays when it was announced. Saied therefore had ten days to appoint a new head of government. On 20 January 2020, he appointed Elyes Fakhfakh.

His government was announced on 15 February, but Ennahda, whose ministers were announced there, announced that he would not vote for confidence because of the non-participation of Heart of Tunisia. A slightly modified version of the government, but without the participation of Heart of Tunisia, was announced on 19 February; Ennahdha, fearing a dissolution, voted to accept the government. On 27 February, the Assembly of People's Representatives granted confidence to the government.

In June 2020, according to Al Jazeera, "an independent member of Parliament published documents indicating that Fakhfakh owned shares in companies that won deals worth 44 million dinars". Fakhfakh denied any wrongdoing. On 15 July 2020, he resigned. On 25 July 2020, Saïed appointed Hichem Mechichi who was the former interior minister as head of government, with the task of forming a government in one month and obtaining the confidence of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People. Later on, he assumed office on 2 September 2020.

2021 self-coup