The Social Liberal Party , abbreviated to PSL, is an opposition liberal

Liberalism

Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...

 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...

. It holds eight seats in the Chamber of Deputies

Chamber of Deputies of Tunisia

The Chamber of Deputies is the lower chamber of the Parliament of Tunisia, the bicameral legislative branch of the government of Tunisia. It has 189 seats and members are elected by popular vote to serve five-year terms. 20% of the seats are reserved for the opposition. Elections are held in the...

, making it the fifth-largest party in the Tunisian parliament. The party is a member of the Liberal International

Liberal International

Liberal International is a political international federation for liberal parties. Its headquarters is located at 1 Whitehall Place, London, SW1A 2HD within the National Liberal Club. It was founded in Oxford in 1947, and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal parties and for the...

 and the Africa Liberal Network

Africa Liberal Network

The Africa Liberal Network is an organization composed of 27 political parties from 21 African countries, and is an associated organisation of Liberal International, the political family to which Liberal Democratic parties belong...

.

The party was founded in September 1988 under the name Social Party for Progress (Parti social pour le progrès), but was renamed in October 1993 to reflect its liberal ideology. At the 1999 election

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...

, it won election for the first time, winning its first two seats in the Chamber of Deputies.

They retained these two seats at the 2004

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...

, when its candidate Mohamed Mouni Béji also won 0.8% at the presidential

President of Tunisia

The President of Tunisia, formally known as the President of the Tunisian Republic is the head of state of Tunisia. Tunisia is a presidential republic in which the president is the head of the executive branch of government with the assistance of the Prime Minister of Tunisia, formally the head of...

 elections. In 2005, Mongi Khamassi, one of the party's founders, split to form the Green Party for Progress. Despite this, the PSL quadrupled its seats to eight in the 2009 election

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 fifth-largest party.

As well as liberal social and political reforms, the PSL advocates economic liberalisation, including the privatisation of state-owned firms.

See also

• Liberalism
  Liberalism
  Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
  
  
• Social liberalism
  Social liberalism
  Social liberalism is the belief that liberalism should include social justice. It differs from classical liberalism in that it believes the legitimate role of the state includes addressing economic and social issues such as unemployment, health care, and education while simultaneously expanding...
  
  
• Contributions to liberal theory
  Contributions to liberal theory
  Individual contributors to classical liberalism and political liberalism are associated with philosophers of the Enlightenment. Liberalism as a specifically named ideology begins in the late 18th century as a movement towards self-government and away from aristocracy...
  
  
• Liberalism worldwide
  Liberalism worldwide
  This article gives information on liberalism in diverse countries around the world. It is an overview of parties that adhere more or less to the ideas of political liberalism and is therefore a list of liberal parties around the world....
  
  
• List of liberal parties
• Liberal democracy
  Liberal democracy
  Liberal democracy, also known as constitutional democracy, is a common form of representative democracy. According to the principles of liberal democracy, elections should be free and fair, and the political process should be competitive...
  
  

External links

• Social Liberal Party official site