The Ettajdid Movement also referred to simply as Ettajdid, is a centre-left

Centre-left

Centre-left is a political term that describes individuals, political parties or organisations such as think tanks whose ideology lies between the centre and the left on the left-right spectrum...

 secularist

Secularism

Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...

 political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in Tunisia

Tunisia

Tunisia , officially the Tunisian RepublicThe long name of Tunisia in other languages used in the country is: , is the northernmost country in Africa. It is a Maghreb country and is bordered by Algeria to the west, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Its area...

. Ettajdid evolved out of the old Tunisian Communist Party

Tunisian Communist Party

Tunisian Communist Party was a political party in Tunisia. PCT was founded in 1934, as the Tunisian Federation of the French Communist Party was converted into an independent organization. The party was banned by the Vichy regime in 1939, but in 1943 the party was able to operate legally again. It...

 in 1993. During the Ben Ali

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali

Zine El Abidine Ben Ali is a Tunisian political figure who was the second President of Tunisia from 1987 to 2011. Ben Ali was appointed Prime Minister in October 1987, and he assumed the Presidency on 7 November 1987 in a bloodless coup d'état that ousted President Habib Bourguiba, who was...

 rule it was one of the legal, although oppressed opposition parties. It is led by its First Secretary Ahmed Ibrahim

Ahmed Ibrahim (Tunisian politician)

Ahmed Ibrahim ; born 19 June 1947), also known as Ahmed Brahim, is a Tunisian politician. He is the First Secretary of Ettajdid Movement and the leader of the Democratic Modernist Pole. He was the party's candidate for President of Tunisia in the 2009 presidential election...

.

The party evolved out of the Tunisian Communist Party

Tunisian Communist Party

Tunisian Communist Party was a political party in Tunisia. PCT was founded in 1934, as the Tunisian Federation of the French Communist Party was converted into an independent organization. The party was banned by the Vichy regime in 1939, but in 1943 the party was able to operate legally again. It...

. Adopting its new name and abandoning communism

Communism

Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

 in April 1993, the party adopted a social

Social

The term social refers to a characteristic of living organisms...

 economic programme, and it was legalised in November 1993. In the 1994 election

Tunisian general election, 1994

General elections were held in Tunisia on 20 March 1994 to elect a President and Chamber of Deputies. In the presidential election, incumbent Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was re-elected unopposed for a second five-year term, whilst in the Chamber election his Constitutional Democratic Rally won 144 of...

, the party won four seats. This increased to five in 1999

Tunisian general election, 1999

General elections were held in Tunisia on 24 October 1999 to elect a President and Chamber of Deputies. For the first time ever there was more than one candidate in the presidential election. However, the result was a victory for incumbent Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who reportedly won 99.4% of the...

, before falling to three in the 2004 election

Tunisian general election, 2004

General elections were held in Tunisia on 24 October 2004 to elect a President and Chamber of Deputies. In the presidential election, incumbent Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, was re-elected for a fourth five-year term with 94.49% of the vote. In the Chamber of Deputies elections his Constitutional...

 and to two in 2009

Tunisian general election, 2009

Presidential and parliamentary elections were held in Tunisia on 25 October 2009. Results released on 26 October 2009 indicated a substantial victory for incumbent President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, who won the reelection for a fifth five-year term, and the governing Constitutional Democratic Rally...

, making it the smallest of the seven parties represented in the Tunisian parliament

Parliament of Tunisia

The Parliament of Tunisia is made up of two houses:*The upper chamber, the Chamber of Councillors*The lower chamber, the Chamber of Deputies...

.

After massive protests in January 2011, Ettajdid gained a post for Ahmed Ibrahim as Minister of Higher Education. For the Constituent assembly election, Ettajdid has formed a strongly secularist alliance called Democratic Modernist Pole

Democratic Modernist Pole

Democratic Modernist Pole is a Tunisian political coalition created for the Tunisian Constituent Assembly election of 23 October 2011. The "Pole" consists of four parties and five citizen initiatives, the largest of which is the Ettajdid Movement. However, a October 18 report by Bloomberg.com...

(PDM), of which it is the mainstay.

Ettajdid publishes at-Tariq al-Jadid (New Path).

External links

Official website