Popular Unity Movement (Mouvement d'Unité Populaire, MUP), is a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

. The MUP was formed by

Ahmed Ben Salah Ahmed Ben Salah ( ar, أحمد بن صالح) (13 January 1926 – 16 September 2020) was a Tunisian politician and trade union leader. His power and influence peaked between 1957 and 1969 when he was able to implement his ideas for a planned e ...

in Swiss exile in 1973. Ben Salah was a trade unionist (

Tunisian General Labour Union The Tunisian General Labour Union (french: Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail, ''UGTT''. ar, الاتحاد العام التونسي للشغل) is a national trade union center in Tunisia. It has a membership of more than one million and wa ...

, UGTT) who had been a member of the ruling

Socialist Destourian Party The Socialist Destourian Party ( ar, الحزب الاشتراكي الدستوري ' ; french: Parti socialiste destourien) was the ruling political party of Tunisia from 1964 to 1988. Bahi Ladgham was the first Prime Minister from the party a ...

(PSD) and minister of economic planning in the government of

Habib Bourguiba Habib Bourguiba (; ar, الحبيب بورقيبة, al-Ḥabīb Būrqībah; 3 August 19036 April 2000) was a Tunisian lawyer, nationalist leader and statesman who led the country from 1956 to 1957 as the prime minister of the Kingdom of ...

. In this role he pursued a communitarian socialist policy, aiming for a more unified and enlightened society by the means of a strong government. Ben Salah was made responsible for the economic failure of the late 1960s, dropped from the government, expelled from the PSD and sentenced to 10 years of forced labour in 1970. He escaped from prison in 1973 and fled abroad. His new party gathered intellectuals and Tunisian expatriates living in Europe. In 1977, it published a ''Charter of Democratic and Popular Liberties'' which had great influence on the political debate in Tunisia. However, the party remained illegal. When the more reformist

Mohammed Mzali Mohammed Mzali ( ar, محمد مزالي, 23 December 1925 – 23 June 2010) was a Tunisian politician who served as Prime Minister between 1980 and 1986. Early life Mzali was born in Monastir, Tunisia on 23 December 1925. His family has ancest ...

became Prime Minister, he allowed oppositional parties to run candidates' lists in elections and announced to officially recognize them in case they won more than five percent. However, the government rigged the elections and the MUP received, according to official results, less than 1 percent. Ben Salah therefore announced to boycott further elections. A more moderate faction which disagreed with Ben Salah, broke away in 1981 and formed the Popular Unity Party (PUP), which gained official recognition in 1983. After the

Tunisian revolution The Tunisian Revolution, also called the Jasmine Revolution, was an intensive 28-day campaign of civil resistance. It included a series of street demonstrations which took place in Tunisia, and led to the ousting of longtime president Zine ...

2011, the MUP was finally legalised. But in the following election for the Constituent Assembly it failed to win any seats.

References

1973 establishments in Tunisia Formerly banned political parties in Tunisia Formerly banned socialist parties Political parties established in 1973 Socialist parties in Tunisia {{Tunisia-party-stub