Neo Destour

The New Constitutional Liberal Party (Arabic: الحزب الحر الدستوري الجديد‎, al-Ḥizb al-Ḥurr ad-Dustūrī al-Jadīd; French: Nouveau Parti libéral constitutionnel), most commonly known as Neo Destour, was a Tunisian political party that was founded by a group of Tunisian nationalist politicians during the French protectorate.

New Constitutional Liberal Party حزب الحر الدستوري الجديد
French name	Nouveau Parti libéral constitutionnel
Former presidents	Mahmud Materi (1934–1938) Habib Bourguiba (1938–1964)
Founded	2 March 1934 (1934-03-02) Ksar Hellal Congress
Dissolved	22 October 1964 (1964-10-22)
Split from	Destour
Succeeded by	Socialist Destourian Party
Newspaper	L'Action Tunisienne
Ideology	Tunisian nationalism Bourguibism
Politics of Tunisia Political parties Elections

History

The party was formed as a result of a split from the pre-existing Destour party in 1934, during the Ksar Hellal Congress of March 2.[1][2] Several leaders were particularly prominent during the party's early years before World War II: Habib Bourguiba, Mahmud Materi, Tahar Sfar, Bahri Guiga, and Salah ben Youssef.[3][4]

Prior to the split, a younger group of Destour members had alarmed the party elders by appealing directly to the populace through their more radical newspaper L'Action Tunisienne. The younger group, many from the provinces, seemed more in tune with a wider spectrum of the country-wide Tunisian people, while the party elders represented a more established constituency in the capital city of Tunis; yet both groups were proponents of change, either autonomy or independence. The rupture came at the Destour party congress of 1934.[5][6]

Eventually the Neo Destour led the Tunisian independence movement after the tumultuous period during World War II. Then Bourguiba was imprisoned and after the war in Egypt, while Ben Salih was the local, hands-on party leader. A significant break within the party ranks occurred in the final year of the independence struggle. In April, 1955, Salah ben Yusuf openly challenged Habib Bourguiba over his gradualist tactics during his autonomy negotiations with the French. Also Ben Yusuf, who cultivated support at al-Zaytuna Mosque and took a pan-Arab political line, disputed Bourguiba's more liberal, secular, pro-Western approach. The party's labor leader Ahmad Ben Salah kept the Tunisian General Labor Union in Bourguiba's camp. The Neo Destour party expelled Ben Yusuf that October; in November 1955 he mounted a large street demonstration but to no avail. Ben Yusuf then left for Nasser's Egypt where he was welcomed.[7][8]

Independence of Tunisia from France was negotiated largely by the Neo Destour's Bourguiba. The effective date was March 20, 1956. The next year the Republic of Tunisia was constituted, which replaced the Beylical form of government. The Neo Destour became the ruling party under Prime Minister and later President Habib Bourguiba.[9] In 1963, the Neo Destour was proclaimed the only legally permitted party in Tunisia, though for all intents and purposes the country had been a one-party state since independence.

Later the Neo Destour party was renamed the Socialist Destourian Party (PSD in its French acronym) in 1964, to signal the government's commitment to a socialist phase of political-economic development. This phase failed to fulfill expectations, however, and was discontinued in 1969 with the dismissal of Ahmad ben Salah as economics minister by President Bourguiba.[10][11][12]

In 1988, under President Ben Ali, the party was again renamed, to become the Rassemblement Constitutionel Démocratique (RCD).[13] The RCD continued as the Tunisian ruling party under President Ben Ali, who became increasingly corrupt and dictatorial. Early in 2011 he was forced out of office and his regime and the ruling party abolished, as a result of the liberal Tunisian Revolution. Similar subsequent events of popular regime change, which had spread to other Arab countries, became known as the Arab Spring.[14]

Electoral history

Presidential elections

Election	Party candidate	Votes	%	Result
1959	Habib Bourguiba		100%	Elected Y

Chamber of Deputies elections

Election	Party leader	Votes	%	Seats	+/–	Position	Government
1956	Habib Bourguiba	597,763	98.7%	98 / 98	98	1st	Supermajority government
1959		1,002,298	99.7%	90 / 90	8	1st	Supermajority government

Notable people

• Hédi Saidi

See also

• Destour
• Socialist Destourian Party (PSD)
• Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD)

Reference notes

1. The Destour Party had been founded in 1920. Kenneth J. Perkins, A History of Modern Tunisia (Cambridge University 2004) p. 79.
2. Lisa Anderson, The State and Social Transformation in Tunisia and Libya, 1830-1980 (Princeton University 1986) pp. 162-167, 171.
3. Perkins, A History of Modern Tunisia (Cambridge University 2004) pp. 95-96, 98.
4. Robert Rinehart, "Historical Setting" at 42, in Tunisia. A Country Study edited by Harold D. Nelson (Washington, D.C. 1987).
5. Richard M. Brace, Morocco Algeria Tunisia (Prentice Hall 1964) pp. 62-63.
6. Lisa Anderson, The State and Social Transformation in Tunisia and Libya, 1830-1980 (Princeton University 1986) pp. 163, 167.
7. Perkins, A History of Modern Tunisia (Cambridge University 2004) pp. 116-118, 126-129.
8. Jacob Abadi, Tunisia since the Arab Conquest (Reading: Uthaca Press 2013) pp. 430-431, 451-453 (Ben Salah)
9. Brace, Morocco Algeria Tunisia (Prentice Hall 1964) pp. 114-116, 121-123, 140-143.
10. Perkins, A History of Modern Tunisia (Cambridge University 2004) at 146-147.
11. Jean R. Tartter, "Government and Politics" at 234-238, in Tunisia. A Country Study (Washington, D. C. 1987).
12. Abadi, Tunisia since the Arab Conquest (Ithaca 2013) pp. 139-141.
13. Perkins, A History of Modern Tunisia (Cambridge University 2004) p.185.
14. Abadi, Tunisia since the Arab Conquest (Ithaca 2013) pp. 544-545.