Tunisia's Saied unpicks young 'Arab spring' democracy

FILE PHOTO: Tunisian then-presidential candidate Kais Saied reacts after exit poll results were announced in a second round runoff of the presidential election in Tunis, Tunisia October 13, 2019. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi/File Photo

TUNIS (Reuters) - Most photographs of Tunisian President Kais Saied on his official social media feed show him behind his desk with mouth open, lecturing a procession of subdued, deferential subordinates.

That top-down approach, in which Saied directs and everybody else follows, is what his critics fear will be enshrined as Tunisia's new political system through Monday's referendum in place of a flawed, but relatively open, democracy.