Kais Saied

His Excellency Kais Saied
قيس سعيد
Saied in 2023
President of Tunisia
Incumbent
Assumed office 23 October 2019
Prime Minister	Youssef Chahed Elyes Fakhfakh[1] Hichem Mechichi Najla Bouden Ahmed Hachani
Preceded by	Mohamed Ennaceur (acting)
Personal details
Born	(1958-02-22) 22 February 1958 (age 66) Tunis, Tunisia[2]
Political party	Independent
Spouse	Ichraf Chebil
Children	3
Alma mater	University of Tunis International Institute of Humanitarian Law
Profession	Jurist, professor of law
Signature

This article is part of a series about Kais Saied
Early life and education Personal life Presidency 2019 presidential election 2021 self-coup 2022 constitutional referendum 2022 Constitution 2022–23 parliamentary election Decree Law 54 Government Ahmed Hachani (Prime Minister) Family Ichraf Saied (spouse)
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Kais Saied (Arabic: قَيس سَعيد; born 22 February 1958) is a Tunisian politician, jurist and retired professor of law currently serving as the seventh president of Tunisia since October 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 supported by Ennahda and others across the political spectrum. Running on a populist platform with little campaigning, Saied sought to appeal to younger voters, pledged to combat corruption and supported improving the electoral system. 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.

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 politicians. He ruled by decree until he was successful in passing a new constitution which granted him more powers and called snap legislative elections which resulted in a record low turnout.