When the Tunisian Republic was proclaimed on 25 July 1957, with Habib Bourguiba elected its first constituent president, long before the adoption of the constitution in 1959, the intention and spirit of the leaders were to give birth to a republican political system conferring the mandate of the head of state to the “Supreme Combatant” who had become the near-exclusive holder of power in the country. The First Republic rose up against the monarchy, and would henceforth be the regime of the new independent state. However, the people who had, according to Bourguiba, “reached a sufficient degree of maturity to assume the management of their own affairs” would first have to be guided in their choices by their zaïm-turned-raïs; liberator of the country and father of the nation. Democracy would have to wait.
République 3
Presidential Election in Tunisia : Democracy His Way
What are we to make of it when Ben Ali, Tunisia’s much venerated president and ruler of the Palace of […]
The Democratic Challenge in Ben Ali’s ‘last’ Presidential Term
The significance of the 5th Congress (30 July-2 August 2008) of Tunisia’s ruling Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) lies not in Bin Ali’s nomination for the October 2009 presidential elections, but rather in the set of challenges that could render his fifth and supposedly ‘last’ term a time of transition to a more open political system in 2014. The Congress, held