The Movement of Socialist Democrats ( ar, حركة الديمقراطيين الاشتراكيين, ' ; french: Mouvement des démocrates socialistes, MDS, also translated as "Socialist Democrats Movement") is a

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 ideological or p ...

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

. The MDS was founded by defectors from the then 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 liberal-minded expatriates in 1978. The founders of the MDS had already been involved in the establishment of the

Tunisian Human Rights League french: Ligue tunisienne des droits de l'homme , native_name_lang = , named_after = , image = Tunisian Human Rights League logo.png , image_size = , alt = Logo of the Tunisian Human Rights Le ...

(LTDH) in 1976/77. Its first secretary general was Ahmed Mestiri who had been a member of the PSD and interior minister in the government of Habib Bourguiba, but was dropped from the government in 1971 and expelled from the party after he had called for democratic reforms and pluralism. Tunisia was then a single-party state ruled exclusively by the PSD. The MDS remained illegal until 1981 when the more reform-minded Prime Minister Mohammed Mzali allowed oppositional parties to run candidates' lists in elections and announced to officially recognise them in case they won more than 5%. Among the minor, weakly institutionalised oppositional parties, the MDS presented the most appealing candidates list and threatened to actually beat the PSD in the capital Tunis. The government decided to rig the elections. So, according to official results, the MDS won only 3.2 percent, behind the ruling PSD with 94.6 percent. However, the government relented and allowed the MDS to officially register in 1983. It was one of three legal oppositional parties during the 1980s. The MDS welcomed

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Zine El Abidine Ben Ali ( ar, زين العابدين بن علي, translit=Zayn al-'Ābidīn bin 'Alī; 3 September 1936 – 19 September 2019), commonly known as Ben Ali ( ar, بن علي) or Ezzine ( ar, الزين), was a Tunisian politician ...

taking over the presidency from the longterm head of state Bourguiba in 1987. Many MDS members believed that Ben Ali really pursued reforms and liberalisation and defected to his

Constitutional Democratic Rally The Democratic Constitutional Rally or Democratic Constitutional Assembly ( ar, التجمع الدستوري الديمقراطي ', french: Rassemblement Constitutionnel Démocratique, sometimes also called Constitutional Democratic Rally in E ...

(RCD), weakening the MDS. Ahmed Mestiri led the party until 1990. In the early 1990s, the party was torn between cooperation with the government and opposition. Those who strove for a strictly oppositional course left the party or were edged out. In 1994, a group of MDS dissidents around Mustapha Ben Jaafar founded the Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties (FDTL), which was only legalised in 2002. In 1994, the electoral law was changed, ensuring the parliamentary representation of oppositional parties. The MDS received 10 of 163 seats (19 being reserved for the opposition). In 1999, it became the largest opposition party, with 13 seats in the Tunisian parliament. In 2001, the then-party leader Mohamed al-Mouadda was charged with having formed a pact with the banned Islamist group

Ennahda The Ennahda Movement ( ar, حركة النهضة, Ḥarakatu n-Nahḍah; french: link=no, Mouvement Ennahdha), also known as the Renaissance Party or simply known as Ennahda, is a self-defined Islamic democratic political party in Tunisia. Fou ...

. At the 2004 parliamentary election, the party won 4.6% of the popular vote and 14 seats. Their number of seats rose to 16 at the 2009 election, making it again the second-largest party in the Chamber of Deputies, behind the dominant

(RCD). 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 El ...

of 2011, the party obtained two seats in the election for the Constituent Assembly. The MDS has published the Arabic weekly newspapers ''Al-Moustaqbal'' ("The Future") and ''Al-Ra'i'' ("Opinion"), as well as the French-language ''L'Avenir''.

References

{{Authority control 1978 establishments in Tunisia Democratic socialist parties in Africa Formerly banned political parties in Tunisia Formerly banned socialist parties Political parties established in 1978 Secularism in Tunisia Socialist parties in Tunisia