The Progressive Democratic Party ( ar, الحزب الديمقراطي التقدمي, '; french: Parti démocrate progressiste), also referred to by its acronym PDP, was a

secular Secularity, also the secular or secularness (from Latin ''saeculum'', "worldly" or "of a generation"), is the state of being unrelated or neutral in regards to religion. Anything that does not have an explicit reference to religion, either negativ ...

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

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 ...

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History and profile

The Progressive Democratic Party was founded under the name of ''Progressive Socialist Rally'' in 1983, gained legal recognition on 12 September 1988 and was renamed Progressive Democratic Party in 2001. Under the rule of Ben Ali it was a legal opposition party, but subjected to political repression. 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 ...

it was one of the major left-leaning secular political forces. It was led by

Ahmed Najib Chebbi Ahmed Najib Chebbi ( ar, أحمد نجيب الشابي, french: Ahmed Néjib Chebbi) or simply Najib Chebbi (born 30 July 1944) is a Tunisian attorney and politician. Chebbi is a prominent figure of the Tunisian opposition movement; in 1983, he ...

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 left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialectic ...

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 and

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

. Therefore, it was unrepresented in the

Tunisian parliament The Assembly of the People's Representatives ( ar, مجلس نواب الشعب ', french: Assemblée des représentants du peuple; ARP) is Tunisia's legislative branch of government. The unicameral Assembly replaced the Constituent Assembly and ...

. 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-days 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 ( 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. Foun ...

. 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 consisting of chest compressions often combined with artificial ventilation in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore sponta ...

and

Ettakatol The Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties ( ar, التكتل الديمقراطي من أجل العمل والحريات, ' ; french: link=no, Forum démocratique pour le travail et les libertés), also referred to as Ettakatol or by its Fre ...

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 Afek Tounes ( ar, آفاق تونس, "Tunisian Aspiration(s)" or "Horizons of Tunisia") is a centre-right political party in Tunisia. Its program is liberal, focusing on secularism and civil liberties. The party mainly appealed to intellectuals a ...

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