Tunisia’s turmoil is being watched warily around the globe

TUNIS, Tunisia (AP) — Days of political turmoil in Tunisia over a crippled economy and surging coronavirus infections have left the country's allies in the Middle East, Europe and the United States watching to see if its fragile democracy will survive.

European countries — most notably nearby Italy — worry about a flood of migrants should Tunisia slide further into chaos.

Autocratic leaders from Egypt to Saudi Arabia hope this week's power grab by Tunisian President Kais Saied spells doom for the region’s Islamists. But they also fear a reignited Arab Spring, like the uprising that was kindled by Tunisia a decade ago.

And around the world, pro-democracy campaigners wonder if a country they held up as a beacon is drifting back toward dictatorship.

“The ball is now in the people’s court,” Egyptian activist el-Ghazaly Harb said in a Facebook post. “They are able to correct the path without abandoning the peaceful democratic model that we all hope they can see to the end,” he said. “The answer will always be Tunisia.”

Tunisia, with only 12 million of Africa’s 1.3 billion people, holds outsized symbolism as a nation that designed a democracy from scratch and earned a Nobel Peace Prize after its largely bloodless revolution.

Without warning on Sunday, Saied froze the nation’s parliament and took over executive powers, saying he had to save the country, which is suffering from an outbreak of the virus and a failing economy.

Since then, he has moved against corrupt lawmakers and tycoons and strengthened military oversight of the pandemic. He and his aides held a flurry of meetings with foreign allies, promising that his power grab is temporary.

But his next steps are unclear.

The main victim of his decision — the Islamist...