Tunisian Political Parties

SELECT LEFTIST PARTIES IN TUNISIA

Founded Authorization pre-January, 2011? Party Orientation, Ideology Leadership Image (Leader) Image (Party)

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Notes
Marxist-Leninist; Hoxhaist, antiRevisionist; pro-lacit; student, worker following; leadership from rural, peasant origins; working relationships with Islamists (Nahda); strong presence in UGTT; very active during uprising; 18 October alliance with PDP, FDTL and Islamists; member of 14 January Front; member of International Conference of MarxistLeninist Parties and Organizations (Unity & Struggle)

Newspaper

1986

No

Tunisian Communist Workers Party (PCOT)/!" %&'( .10,/%%*+,-.

Marxist-Leninist, Hoxhaist; pro-lacite

Hamma Hammami

al-Badil (The Alternative)

2006

No

Socialist Left Party (PSG)/.6%2" 34/5 %+1(

Marxist-Leninist, communist; pro-lacite

Mohamed Kilani

Marxist-Leninist breakaway from PCOT, established by faction of PCOT founders; pro- lacit; rejects all alliance with Islamists; strong presence in UGTT; in Committee for the Protection of the Goals of the Revolution with Ettajdid, the National Initiative for Democracy and Progress (INDP) Ex-communists; descendent of historic PCT (f. 1920); 2 seats in Chamber of Deputies under Ben Ali; elded presidential candidates in 2004 and 2009; in grouping with PTPD and PSG, the National Initiative for Democracy and Progress (INDP); center left, advocates "the total separation of religion and state and the rejection of any use of religion in politics; in discussions for join list for constituent assembly elections with FDTL Social democratic; formerly the Progressive Socialist Rally (RSP), Marxist, leftist; ideology revised in late 1990s, early 2000s; name change in 200; founded by Ahmed Nejib Chebbi; many former, current moderate leftists, some "progressive Islamists; popular in urban centers in northern Tunisia, strong middle-class following Social democratic breakaway from MDS; rst party recognized after 1988; no national-level participation; founding congress in 2009; Advisory member of Socialists International; 18 October alliance with PCOT, PDP and Islamists; advisory member of Socialist International; in discussions for join list for constituent assembly elections with Ettajdid

Afaaq al-Ishtaraki (The Socialist Perspective)

1993

Yes

Ettajdid/;<;:/%!569

Center left, excommunist

Ahmed Brahim

Attariq al-Jadid (A New Path)

1983

Yes

Democratic Progressive Party (PDP)/ .>%2" %;<'=5 .?;=/% Democratic Forum for Labor and Democracy (FDTL)/.> %;<'=5A/@/% %25<(A'&% AD B?

Social democratic, center left

Maya Jribi

al-Mawqaf (The Position)

1994

Yes

Social democratic

Mustapha Ben Jaafar

al-Muwwatun (The Citizen)

2005

No

Patriotic and Democratic Labor Party (PTPD)/A'&%!" .>. %;<'=5G>,%

Socialist, communist

Abderrazak Hammami

Marxist leftist; founders among leaders of the General Union of Tunisian Students in late 1970s; heavily intellectual leadership, labor oriented, secularist, anti-imperialist; close links to historic PCT, Ettajdid, leftist elements in UGET; in grouping with Ettajdid and PSG, the National Initiative for Democracy and Progress (INDP)

al- Iraada (The Will)

1978

Yes

Movement of Democratic Socialists (MDS)/H+>!569 %;<'=5 H+634/5

Social democratic

Ahmed Khaskhoussi

Leftist breakaway from Neo-Destour; ran in multiparty elections in 1981; signed 7 November, 1988 "pact" with government, Nahda, et al re: participation; rife with internal divisions, breakaways and coups during 1990s and 2000s; leadership supported Ben Ali candidacy in 1994, 1999, 2004 and 2009 under leadership of Ismal Boulahya faction at expense of dissenting faction led by Mohamed Moada; internal dissenters frequently detained or harassed; breakaway faction led by Ben Jaafar founded FDTL; after 2010/2011 revolution, Boulahya replaced by Taeb Mohsni, though dissenting factions oppose this; party congress scheduled for May Arab nationalist, left wing party formed after internal break in Ahmed Ben Salahs Movement of Popular Unity (f. 1978), itself a breakaway faction of the Neo- Destour; it was tolerated under Ben Ali and had seats in parliament and elded Mohamed Belhaj Amor as a presidential candidate in 1999; not a member of Socialist International

al-Mustaqbal (The Future)

1981/83

Yes

Party for Popular Unity (PUP)/!569 %,!; 9+J&*%

Socialist, Arab nationalist

Mohamed Bouchiha

al-Wahdah (Unity)

2001

No

Congress for the Republic (CPR)/5'MLK 9<,N':% AD B?

Center left

Moncef Merzouki

Center left party banned under Ben Ali with strong links to the European left; member of the 18 October alliance with PCOT, PDP, Islamists, et al; strong reputation for opposition to Ben Ali; secularist; supports renegotiation of EU association agreement

2011

No

Party of the Modern Left(PGM)/!" %+1( O<;2%

Center left; Arab nationalist; socialist

Fayal Zemni

Formed from splits in the UDU and MUL; Arab nationalist and center left tendencies

2011

No

Popular Party for Liberty and Progress (PPLP)/.J&*%%2" 25<9 %/=;P%

Socialist

Jelloul Azzouna

Leftist splinter from PUP; founded by Azzouna (head of League of Free Writers, ex-PUP, UGTA activist), Mounir Kachoukh and other PUP dissenters;focused on labor and judiciary reforms (especially rights to assembly, association, religion); calls for an overhaul of the education system

1981

No

Movement of Patriots and Democrats (MPD/ al-Watad)/H+G>,%!569 H+>%;<'=5

Marxist-Leninist; Arab nationalist

Chokri Belaid

Marxist-Leninist party banned under Ben Ali; has called for an alliance of secular leftists to counter the Islamist tendency; calls for the creation of a parliamentary system; Arab nationalist leanings; strong student presence

2011

No

Party of Progressive Struggle (PLP)/!" .?;=/%( RG%

Marxist-Leninist, socialist

Mongi Hammami

Marxist-Leninist party, founded by professors Mongi Hammami and Mohamed Lassoued (the partys main Marxist-Leninist ideologue); founding segments active in student movements, UGET; secularist; anti-imperialist Arab nationalist foreign affairs outlook; calls for variety of tax, land, judiciary, trade union and press reforms

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