The Progressive Democratic Party (, '; ), also referred to by its acronym PDP, was a

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin , or or ), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. The origins of secularity can be traced to the Bible itself. The concept was fleshed out through Christian hi ...

liberal

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area'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 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 ...

History and profile

The Progressive Democratic Party was founded under the name of Progressive Socialist Rally in 1983. It gained legal recognition on 12 September 1988 and was renamed Progressive Democratic Party in 2001. Under the rule of

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 ...

it was a legal opposition party, but it was subjected to political repression. After the Tunisian revolution it was one of the major left-leaning secular political forces. It was led by Ahmed Najib Chebbi and Maya Jribi. On 9 April 2012, it merged into the Republican Party. The Progressive Democratic Party had a newspaper, ''Al-Mawqif''.

Under the Ben Ali rule

In its beginnings, the Progressive Socialist Rally (now PDP) gathered a broad range of currents from

Marxists Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflict, and ...

and pro-democracy activists to progressive Muslims. During the Ben Ali rule, Najib Chebbi and the PDP were harassed by the police for years, and verbally attacked by state-run media. After unsuccessfully participating in elections from 1989 to 1999, the party decided to boycott the elections of

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

and

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. Therefore, it was unrepresented in the Tunisian parliament. After the Ben Ali administration announced to force the party to move their headquarters from Tunis, its leaders Najib Chebbi and Maya Jribi engaged in a 20-day hunger strike, which earned the party attention and prompted the administration to revoke their decision.

After the Tunisian revolution

Following the 2010–2011 Tunisian protests, shootings outside PDP's headquarters were reported on 16 January 2011. The next day, on 17 January, party leader Najib Chebbi, was named Regional Development Minister in the interim government. Ahead of the Constituent Assembly election, the PDP evolved into a main exponent of the centre-left secular camp and rival of the Islamist

Ennahda Movement The Ennahda Movement (; ), also known as the Renaissance Party or simply known as Ennahda, is a self-defined Islamic democratic political party in Tunisia. Founded as the Movement of Islamic Tendency in 1981, Ennahda was inspired by the Egypti ...

. In the run-up to the elections, the Progressive Democrats have received quite an amount of financial support which enabled the party for a lavish campaign. Critics claim that an important part of the funding came from businesspeople close to the old Ben Ali power elite. In the election for a constituent assembly, the PDP won 3.9% of the popular vote and 16 of 217 seats in the National Constituent Assembly, putting it at the fifth place. As the party had categorically ruled out any collaboration with the victorious Islamist

, the Progressive Democrats went into opposition and belong to the outspoken critics of the governing coalition of the Islamists with the secular

CPR Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure used during cardiac or respiratory arrest that involves chest compressions, often combined with artificial ventilation, to preserve brain function and maintain circulation until sp ...

and Ettakatol parties. After the electoral defeat, the PDP launched talks with other secularist and liberal parties to form a "big party of the centre". The merger was realised on the PDP's fifth congress on 9 April 2012. The new party is called the Republican Party and comprises, in addition to the PDP, the Afek Tounes party, several extra-parliamentary parties and independents.

References

External links

PDP site
{{Tunisian political parties 1983 establishments in Tunisia 2012 disestablishments in Tunisia Defunct liberal political parties Defunct political parties in Tunisia Formerly banned political parties in Tunisia Liberal parties in Tunisia Political parties disestablished in 2012 Political parties established in 1983 Secularism in Tunisia