Tunisian President Kais Saied's move to dissolve parliament will likely increase political instability and social unrest in the North African country by sparking pushback from opposition groups and impeding the passage of needed economic reforms. On March 30, Saied dissolved Tunisia's parliament after the body held a virtual session in defiance of his July 2021 order suspending the body. During the session, parliament voted to revoke Saied's declaration of a ''state of exception,'' which suspended the body. President Saied stated that the virtual meeting amounted to an attempted coup, and said that his previously announced plans for holding a referendum this July on a new constitution, followed by new parliamentary elections in December, would go on as scheduled. Under Tunisian law, when the president dissolves parliament he must hold elections within 90 days of the dissolution, but Saied ruled out doing so on March 31....
