Tunisia: Ennahdha weakened by crackdown, eyes political return

Four years after President Kais Saied suspended Tunisia’s parliament and assumed extraordinary powers, the once-dominant Ennahdha party remains battered but not broken, AFP reports. Around 150 of its leaders have been jailed, prosecuted, or exiled. Its longtime head, Rached Ghannouchi, now 84, has received multiple lengthy prison sentences for allegedly plotting against the state.

Once central to post-2011 politics, Ennahdha’s popularity was already waning by 2019 due to its failure to address economic grievances. Critics and rivals now see its downfall as a natural consequence of misrule. Yet, party officials insist it remains Tunisia’s largest political movement and could regain strength if political repression eases.

Analysts describe the party as “clinically dead” but not beyond revival, citing its history of surviving authoritarian crackdowns. Saied’s government, meanwhile, has broadened its repression to include secular and Islamist critics alike, fueling accusations of authoritarianism. The broader opposition remains fragmented, offering little resistance to the president’s consolidation of power.