The Current of Love or Tayar el-Mahaba (, ), before May 2013 known as the Popular Petition for Freedom, Justice and Development (, ', ), short Popular Petition, Aridha Chaabia or Al Aridha, is a

political movement A political movement is a collective attempt by a group of people to change government policy or social values. Political movements are usually in opposition to an element of the status quo, and are often associated with a certain ideology. Some t ...

and

electoral list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can c ...

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

. It was formed after the Tunisian revolution, on 17 March 2011. It has been founded and led by the political writer and media entrepreneur

Mohamed Hechmi Hamdi Mohamed Hechmi Hamdi (), also spelled Mohamed el Hachmi El-Hamdi, Hechmi Haamdi, or Hachmi Hamdi is a Tunisian journalist, media entrepreneur and politician, who lives in London. He is founder and owner of the oppositional Al Mustakillah TV chan ...

. It is closely linked to the ''Party of Progressive Conservatives'', which has been officially registered as a political party.

Platform and campaign

Hechmi Hamdi, who is the owner of Al Mustakilla satellite TV channel, is alleged to have close ties with Tunisia's ousted president

Ben Ali Ben Ali may refer to: People * Ben Ali (businessman) (1927–2009), founder of the restaurant Ben's Chili Bowl in Washington, DC, USA * Habib Ben Ali (1941–1996), Tunisian criminal * Ibrahim Ben Ali (1756–1800), soldier and physician who was ...

, but decries such allegations as slander. In the campaign ahead of the Constituent Assembly election on 23 October 2011, the party has promised free

health care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...

, and an allowance of 200

dinars The dinar () is the name of the principal currency unit in several countries near the Mediterranean Sea, with a more widespread historical use. The English word "dinar" is the transliteration of the Arabic دينار (''dīnār''), which was bor ...

for each of the 500,000 jobseekers in Tunisia. Hechmi Hamdi personally has pledged to inject 2 billion dinars of his own wealth into the

national budget A government budget is a projection of the government's revenues and expenditure for a particular period, often referred to as a financial or fiscal year, which may or may not correspond with the calendar year. Government revenues mostly include ...

. Al-Mustakilla channel has fiercely supported the Petition's campaign. Therefore, numerous complaints against Aridha Chaabia have been filed with the electoral commission ISIE, asking for an annulment of the list and its seats.

2011 election

To the surprise of both rivals and neutral observers, the party performed very well, initially winning 27 seats in the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

. The unexpected success was partly explained with the Southerner Hechmi Hamdi's appeal to the population of the southern and central

governorates A governorate or governate is an administrative division headed by a governor. As English-speaking nations tend to call regions administered by governors either states or provinces, the term ''governorate'' is typically used to calque divisions o ...

, given that representatives from Tunis and the Mediterranean coast have so far dominated Tunisian politics. On 27 October, ISIE disqualified the Petition's lists in six constituencies (with altogether eight elected candidates) for financial irregularities. Thus, the number of seats was brought down to 19, still making Al Aridha the fourth largest in the convention. ISIE's decision to cancel seats triggered violent protests of Popular Petition supporters in

Sidi Bouzid Sidi Bouzid ( '), sometimes called ''Sidi Bou Zid'' or ''Sīdī Bū Zayd'', is a city in Tunisia and is the capital of Sidi Bouzid Governorate in the centre of the country. Following the suicide of Mohamed Bouazizi in Sidi Bouzid, it was the ...

. Party leader Hechmi Hamdi asked his successful candidates to resign and boycott the Constituent Assembly, before reversing this decision on 28 October when he announced that the list's representatives would work in the parliamentary opposition. Following Popular Petition's complaint before the Administrative Court, the electoral commission's decision was mostly revoked: seven of the cancelled seats were reinstated by the judge's verdict, giving the populist party 26 seats altogether. However, twelve of its parliament members resigned from the party in the following days and declared themselves independent.

Party of Progressive Conservatives

The Popular Petition for Freedom, Justice and Development is organised as a popular movement and an electoral list, but is not registered as a political party. It is however closely linked to the ''Party of Progressive Conservatives'' (PPC), which was officially licensed on 15 July 2011 and is part of an initiative started by the Popular Petition. The Popular Petition and the PPC have "exactly the same program", according to Hechmi Hamdi who leads Aridha Chaabia and PPC in personal union.

Renaming

In May 2013, Hechmi Hamdi relaunched the movement under the new name of ''Tayar al-Mahaba'', or "Current of Love".

Election results

References

{{Tunisian political parties 2011 establishments in Tunisia Political parties established in 2011 Political parties in Tunisia Populist parties Islamic democratic political parties Socially conservative parties