Kais Saied

Kais Saied (born 22 February 1958) is a Tunisian jurist and politician who has served as president of Tunisia since 23 October 2019. A retired professor of constitutional law who ran for the presidency as an independent, he was re-elected for a second term in October 2024. ^{1 2}

He was born in Tunis on 22 February 1958, the son of Moncef Saied and Zakia Bellagha, from Béni Khiar on Cap Bon; his paternal uncle Hicham was the first paediatric surgeon in Tunisia. He completed his secondary studies at Sadiki College and studied law at the University of Tunis. He taught constitutional law at the university and was president of the Tunisian Association of Constitutional Law from 1995 to 2019. ^{1 3}

He stood in the 2019 presidential election as an independent. The English article records that he was supported by both Islamists and leftists, that the Ennahda movement supported him, and that, despite holding socially conservative positions, he did not describe himself as an Islamist and had advisers from across the political spectrum. He won the election and took office on 23 October 2019, succeeding the acting president Mohamed Ennaceur, who had held the office since Essebsi's death that July. No source names a school or personal religious affiliation for Saied: the Arabic article's infobox and Wikidata give Islam in general, and the Urdu article's categories file him among Tunisian Muslims in general. ^{1 2 4}

In January 2021 protests began over alleged police brutality, economic hardship and the COVID-19 pandemic. On 25 July 2021 Saied dismissed parliament and Prime Minister Hichem Mechichi, in what the English article, following its sources, calls a successful self-coup. He then oversaw the dismissal of the judiciary and the arrest of leading opposition figures, ruled by decree, and in 2022 carried a constitutional referendum that granted the presidency more powers, followed by snap legislative elections. He was re-elected president for a second term in October 2024. The museum attributes these characterisations to their sources and does not adopt them. ¹

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