Mustapha Ben Jafar ( ar, مصطفى بن جعفر) (born 8 December 1940) is a

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

n politician and medical doctor who was Speaker of the

Constituent Assembly of Tunisia The Constituent Assembly of Tunisia, or National Constituent Assembly (NCA) was the body in charge of devising a new Tunisian constitution for the era after the fall of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and his Constitutional Democratic Rally ( ...

from November 2011 to December 2014. He founded and has led the

Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties 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 ...

(FDTL), a political party, since 1994.

Biography

Ben Jafar was born in 1940 in Tunis. He attended Sadiki College from 1950–1956, then studied medicine in France to become a radiologist. In 1970 he returned to Tunisia, joined the

University of Tunis Tunis University ( ar, جامعة تونس, french: link=no, Université de Tunis) is a university in Tunis, Tunisia. It was founded in 1960 on the basis of earlier educational establishments. The University of Tunis is a member of the Mediterr ...

's medical faculty and worked also at the university hospital. In 1976 he was one of the founders of a weekly opinion magazine and an organization that evolved into 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 1978 he joined others to start a political party, the Movement of Socialist Democrats (MDS). The MDS was the largest opposition party as of 1991 and the ruling party made an apparent attempt to work with the MDS as a "participatory opposition." Ben Jafar was the secretary-general of the MDS in 1992, and ran for the top MDS office, but lost to Mohamed Moadda, and resigned from the party because it seemed to have cooperated with the ruling party so much (receiving a government subsidy and accommodations) and achieved so little. In 1994 Ben Jafar founded the

party (abbreviated FDTL and also called Ettakatol). It was not legally recognized until 2002. He attempted to run for the presidency in 2009 as the FDTL candidate but was disqualified and was in any case widely understood to have no chance to win against the established authoritarian incumbent president Ben Ali.

Post-revolutionary life

Turbulent protests in January 2011 drove President Ben Ali from the country, and Prime Minister

Mohamed Ghannouchi Mohamed Ghannouchi ( ar, محمد الغنوشي ''Muhammad Al-Ghannushi''; born 18 August 1941) is a Tunisian politician who was Prime Minister of Tunisia from 1999 to 2011. Regarded as a technocrat, Ghannouchi was a long-standing figure in the ...

included Ben Jafar as Minister of Health in an interim government beginning 17 January 2011. Along with other minority party members, Ben Jafar resigned within days as public protests continued against the continued dominance of the RCD party in government. Ben Jafar was succeeded as health minister by

Habiba Zehi Ben Romdhane Habiba Zehi Ben Romdhane was Tunisia's health minister. She took office in the interim Tunisian government which began on January 28, 2011, after protests had dislodged a longstanding authoritarian government. Habiba Zehi Ben Romdhane earned a p ...

. In the October 2011 elections to the Constituent Assembly Ben Jafar's party placed fourth and he was elected to a seat in the Constituent Assembly. Supported by his own party, Ben Jafar was considered a possible candidate for

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

in the wake of the election, receiving open consideration from

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 ...

, which had received a plurality of seats. The leading parties agreed instead on a power-sharing arrangement according to which Ben Jafar would be named Speaker of the Constituent Assembly. He was elected to that post by the Assembly when it met on 22 November 2011, receiving 145 votes against 68 for opposition candidate Maya Jribi.Sadok Ayari
"Mustapha Ben Jaafar Elected President of the Constituent Assembly"
, Tunisia Live, 22 November 2011.

Published works

* ''Un si long chemin vers la démocratie'', ed. Nirvana, Tunis, 2014

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Ben Jafar, Mustapha 1940 births Living people People from Tunis Neo Destour politicians Socialist Destourian Party politicians Movement of Socialist Democrats politicians Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties politicians Government ministers of Tunisia Tunisian radiologists Tunisian activists Tunisian Sunni Muslims Tunis University faculty Alumni of Sadiki College Members of the Constituent Assembly of Tunisia