Tunisia vote seen as threat to democracy

Tunisian voters have backed a new constitution giving President Kais Saied more power, in what critics fear will upend the democratic  gains made by Tunisia after the 2011 “Arab Spring” uprising

Arab Spring protests
Protests and leadership change

Tunisia: Widely seen as only success story of Arab Spring uprisings against autocratic rule that elsewhere ended in renewed repression and civil wars

MOROCCO
LIBYA
ALGERIA
EGYPT
YEMEN
OMAN
KUWAIT
BAHRAIN
SAUDI
ARABIA
JORDAN
LEBANON
IRAQ
SUDAN
SYRIA

500km
300 miles

WHAT HAPPENED TO PROMINENT ARAB SPRING RULERS?

1. TUNISIA
Zine El Abidine
Ben Ali
Ruled: 1987-2011
Sentenced in absentiato 35 years in jail.Died in exile in Saudi Arabia in 2019

2. LIBYA
Muammar Gaddafi
1969-2011
Killed by rebel fighters in 2011. Libya hasbeen in chaos anddivided between rival factions since 2014

3. EGYPT
Hosni Mubarak
1981-2011
Jailed for life but laterfreed. Died in 2020.Military coup in 2013 ousted elected leader Mohammed Morsi

4. YEMEN
Ali Abdullah Saleh
1978-2012
Killed by Houthi rebelsin 2017. Interventionof Saudi-led coalitionin 2015 plungedYemen into civil war

5. SYRIA
Bashar al-Assad
2000-present
Remains in power despite civil war that has fractured Syriaand left hundreds of thousands dead

6. BAHRAIN
King Hamad al-Khalifa
1999-present
Sunni Muslim-ruledstate has continuedto clamp down ondissent since Shia-ledprotests in 2011

Sources: CFR, Reuters
Pictures: Getty Images, Wikimedia Commons
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