The People's Movement or Echaab Movement (; ) is a political party in

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 ...

. It is a

secularist Secularism is the principle of seeking to conduct human affairs based on naturalistic considerations, uninvolved with religion. It is most commonly thought of as the separation of religion from civil affairs and the state and may be broadened ...

social democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

Nasserist Nasserism ( ) is an Arab nationalist and Arab socialist political ideology based on the thinking of Gamal Abdel Nasser, one of the two principal leaders of the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, and Egypt's second President. Spanning the domestic a ...

and

Arab nationalist Arab nationalism () is a political ideology asserting that Arabs constitute a single nation. As a traditional nationalist ideology, it promotes Arab culture and civilization, celebrates Arab history, the Arabic language and Arabic literatur ...

party founded in April 2011. The composition of the party has changed several times as a result of mergers and splits. Between 2013 and 2014, the People's Movement was a member of the Popular Front coalition, one of the three main coalitions of political parties in Tunisia. The former leader and founder of the party, Mohamed Brahmi, was assassinated on 25 July 2013 by unknown killers.

Foundation and policies

On 20 March 2011, two nationalist parties merged, the People's Movement (''Mouvement du peuple'') founded by the lawyer Khaled Krichi and the Progressive Unionist Movement (''Mouvement Unioniste Progressiste''). The new party was called the Progressive Unionist People's Movement (''Mouvement du Peuple Unioniste Progressiste''). Some members disagreed with the merger; in April 2011, they formed a new party, the People's Movement (''Mouvement du peuple'') with the slogan "freedom, socialism, unity". The Executive Committee was: * Mohamed Brahmi: General Manager, Coordinator *Adel Zraibia: Officer, Treasurer *Amor Chahed: Spokesman *Hocine Msadek, artist *Abdelwahab El Fahm, professor *Mohsen Nabti, official *Salah Badrouchi, director *Mohamed Sghaier Boukriba, professor *Ahmed Gasmi, professor *Aymen Dabbagui, student *Walid Gharsalli, teacher The People's Movement is a

and

party. It has a social democratic platform and is aligned with workers groups. The party belongs to the Popular Front coalition of left-leaning parties led by Hamma Hammami, leader of the Tunisian Workers Party. The coalition includes ten nationalist left-wing groups, including the People's Movement.

2011 elections

Elections were held on 23 October 2011 for a National Constituent Assembly to write a new constitution for Tunisia, to be submitted for approval by referendum. In the election results announced on 14 November 2011 the leading party was the moderate 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 ...

, with 89 of the 217 seats. The Progressive Unionist People's Movement stood in all constituencies in Tunisia and in two constituencies abroad. It gained 36,641 votes, or 0.98% of the total, but failed to obtain a seat. The People's Movement gained 30,259 votes, or 0.75% of the votes, in 29 districts (26 in Tunisia and three abroad) and won two seats. Brahmi ran in Sidi Bouzid, the town where

Mohamed Bouazizi Tarek El-Tayeb Mohamed Bouazizi (; 29 March 1984 – 4 January 2011) was a Tunisian street vendor who set himself on fire on 17 December 2010 in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia, an act which became a catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution and the wider A ...

set himself on fire in December 2010 and triggered the

Arab Spring The Arab Spring () was a series of Nonviolent resistance, anti-government protests, Rebellion, uprisings, and Insurgency, armed rebellions that spread across much of the Arab world in the early 2010s. It began Tunisian revolution, in Tunisia ...

. He was elected with 3,617 votes. Mourad Amdouni ran in

Bizerte Bizerte (, ) is the capital and largest city of Bizerte Governorate in northern Tunisia. It is the List of northernmost items, northernmost city in Africa, located north of the capital Tunis. It is also known as the last town to remain under Fr ...

, where his name happened to be placed to the right of that of Ennahda on the ballot. He received 10,353 votes, some cast incorrectly by supporters of Ennahda.

Later developments

Merger with MPUP

On 26 February 2012, it was announced that the Progressive Unionist People's Movement and the People's Movement would join to form a new party, again called the People's Movement (''Mouvement du peuple''). This followed a two-day constituent congress in Nabeul attended by 300 delegates that adopted motions on political, economic, social, cultural and organizational subjects. The president of the congress, Salem Hadded, said a new 11-person executive committee with a two-year mandate would elect the secretary general for the party. The committee members were: * Mohamed Brahmi, General Coordinator * Zouhair Maghzaoui, Secretary General * Souad Cheffi * Fethi Belhaj * Ridha Dallaï * Mohsen Nabti * Mabrouk Kourchid * Badreddine Gammoudi * Ridha El Agha * Salah Ferjaoui * Omrane Maddouri

Coalitions

The People's Movement organized a meeting on 5 January 2013 to discuss subjects such as a new model for development, independence of justice, the nature of the political regime and the martyrs and wounded of the revolution. The focus of the meeting was an initiative of national unification. According to Mohamed Brahmi, the present crisis would be resolved by a political alliance of all democratic forces apart from

Ennahda 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 ...

(Renaissance) and

Nidaa Tounes Nidaa Tounes ( ', ; usually translated as "Call of Tunisia", "Call for Tunisia", or "Tunisia's Call") is a big tent secularist political party in Tunisia. After being founded in 2012, the party won a plurality of seats in the October 2014 p ...

. It would include the Republican Party, El Watd, the

Social Democratic Path Social Democratic Path (sometimes written as Democratic and Social Path; ; , or al-Massar) is a Centre-left politics, centre-left secularism, secularist political party in Tunisia. It was formed on 1 April 2012, by the merger of the post-communist ...

, Ettalia, the

Ba'ath party The Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party ( ' ), also known simply as Bath Party (), was a political party founded in Syria by Michel Aflaq, Salah al-Din al-Bitar, and associates of Zaki al-Arsuzi. The party espoused Ba'athism, which is an ideology ...

, Ettakatol, the Congress for the Republic and the UGTT. The Popular Front (''Front populaire pour la réalisation des objectifs de la révolution'') is a coalition of left, nationalist and green political parties founded on 7 October 2012 as an alternative to the secular coalition of Nidaa Tounes and to the "troïka", the coalition of ruling parties that includes the Islamist Ennahda, the Congress for the Republic and Ettakatol. The Popular Front spokesman is Hamma Hammami, secretary general of the

Workers' Party Workers' Party is a name used by several political parties throughout the world. The name has been used by both organisations on the left and right of the political spectrum. It is currently used by followers of Marxism, Marxism–Leninism, Maoism ...

. Chokri Belaïd, who was murdered on 6 February 2013, was the leader of the Democratic Patriots' Movement, which belonged to the front. On 30 April 2013 Mohamed Brahmi made an official announcement on radio Shems FM that the People's movement would join the Popular Front coalition. He said that he thought the Popular Front was essential for Tunisia since it provided the hope of achieving the goals of the revolution: justice, democracy and productivity.

Assassination of Brahmi

Brahmi left the People's Movement in July 2013 to form a new organization. When he quit on 7 July he said that Islamists had infiltrated the Popular Movement. Four members of the political bureau of the party, as well as coordinators of regional offices and dozens of supporters, also resigned from the party after a strategy session that discussed the party position on national and pan-Arab issues, political Islam and the coalition with the Popular Front. A 17-member committee was announced to formalize the creation of a new party to be called the ''Courant Populaire'' (Popular Current). Speaking on the "Midi Show" Brahmi said that he had already written his resignation on 16 December 2012. He said he would act as interim general coordinator of the Popular Current until a congress was held to found the new party. On 25 July 2013 Brahmi was shot dead outside his house by unknown assassins. The killers fled the scene on a motorbike. The motive was not known. Khaled Khichi, a lawyer and member of the party, announced Brahmi's death from the hospital. The killing triggered demonstrations against the government of Prime Minister Ali Laarayedh. Brahmi's state funeral was arranged for Saturday 27 July 2013. He was buried in Jellaz cemetery beside Chokri Belaid.

After the 2019 parliamentary elections

After the

2019 Tunisian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections took place in Tunisia on 6 October 2019. Electoral system The 217 members of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People were elected by closed list proportional representation in 33 multi-member constituencies (27 ...

, the newly elected MP Zouhair Maghzaoui announced in a press statement, that they will form a parliamentary bloc with the

Democratic Current The Democratic Current () is a social-democratic political party in 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 s ...

References

Notes Citations {{Tunisian political parties 2011 establishments in Tunisia Arab nationalism in Tunisia Nasserist political parties Political parties established in 2011 Secularism in Tunisia Social democratic parties in Tunisia