The End of Political Parties! Isn’t it?

What President Kais Saied has done has prompted us to question the feasibility of the existence of political parties and their role in framing societies. Saied, who does not present himself as belonging to any political party or ideology, surprised everyone with an unprecedented popularity that made him gain the trust and support of almost everyone. This is what gave him the green light to change the Tunisian political scene and turn all the equations amazingly.

The views of Kais Saied usually appear to be a protest against the traditional political parties and against the representative, parliamentary democratic system. These views soon turned into a political phenomenon that drew the attention of observers of the evolution of political systems in the world.

What is happening in Tunisia reminds us of what happened in Italy. An Italian comedian called Giuseppe Grillo founded the “Five Star Movement”. The movement was initially a protest against traditional political parties and the representative democratic system. The movement was launched for the first time on the Internet through the “blog” of its comedian founder, and he named it the “Five Star Movement” in relation to the five main goals that it defends, namely:

1. Purified water is public domain

2. Improving public transport

3. Rejection of costly and polluting projects

4. Exploitation of waste through recycling

5. Free internet.

This new movement is not similar to the left-wing parties that emerged recently in Europe, such as “Podemos” in Spain and “SYRIZA” in Greece, but it is a new phenomenon that resembles nothing but itself.

The same is true of President Kais Saied in Tunisia, as he does not resemble anyone but himself. And the resounding success that he achieved made many ask the question about the reasons and search for the fault that afflicted the traditional democratic machine that is based on the presence of traditional political parties.

It seems that most of Kais Saied’s supporters and believers in his project are ordinary people, not professional politicians, as well as marginalized and desperate youth, and what unites them is the search for clarity in discourse and vision, not demagogy and quantitative mobilization.

It was clear that the decisions of the twenty-fifth of July put an end to the climate of ridicule and disgust towards politicians and parties and opened the door towards an atmosphere of contemplation and positive anticipation, because there is no doubt that the initiator this time does not belong at all to the politicians nor to the parties who have become the cause of the country’s problem.

Perhaps what is happening in Tunisia is establishing a new democratic experience based on excluding the weight of ideologies and the rhetoric of parties and politicians. An experience that the coming days and years will judge and prove whether it is feasible or not.