Reports and rumours about a decline in President Kais Saied’s health underscore the classic political concept that the physical state of a leader deeply affects a country’s “body politic”. How do structural constraints and institutional rigidities form the foundation of Tunisia’s current crisis? AdvertisementSuccessive post-revolution parliaments debated Tunisia’s unreliable electricity grid, costly energy bills, water rationing and transition to renewable energy. The crisis itself presents Saied with an opportunity to mend the many fractures in the “body politic”. Whether Tunisia’s institutions can sustain the immortal body politic if Saied’s health forces a transfer of power remains to be seen.