Sunday, October 23, 2011

Os partidos tunisinos

Who are Tunisia's political parties?, na Al-Jazeera:

The following is a summary of some of the most prominent political parties competing in the upcoming election.

(...)


Founded in 1981, al-Nahda (The Renaissance) is leading in the latest opinion poll, with 25 per cent of respondents saying they favoured the Islamist party. In elections held in 1989, al-Nahda came in second place to the RCD. Shortly afterwards, al-Nahda was banned, and its leader Rachid Ghannouchi fled the country for the UK, from which he recently returned after having lived there for 20 years. (...)

Like Al-Nahda, the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) has a relatively long history - founded in 1983 by Ahmed Najib Chebbi, it was one of only a few parties legal under Ben Ali’s regime. The secular PDP sees al-Nahda as its rival: AFP wrote that Chebbi has accused al-Nahda of wanting to institute an “ideological state”. (...)


Ettakatol (also known as the Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties, or FDTL) is now running head-to-head with the PDP, according to polls. The centre-left party, founded in 1994 but legalised only in 2002, puts great emphasis on transparency, and one of its main goals is to reduce corruption. Accordingly, Ettakatol publicly released the party’s budget and membership information in September. According to Tunisia Live, the party is gaining about 20,000 members per week. (...)

Like Ettakatol, the Congress Party for the Republic (CPR) is also a centre-left, secular party. The party was founded in 2001 but banned the following year. Moncef Marzouki, a human rights activist and physician, ran the CPR from exile in France, returning to Tunisia this year. (...)


Of the Tunisian political parties founded after the Tunisian uprising, the Free Patriotic Union (UPL) is perhaps the most interesting - and controversial. The UPL was launched this year by wealthy 39-year-old businessman Slim Riahi, who grew up as an ex-patriate in Libya, where he made his fortune in energy and property development. Riahi returned to Tunisia this year. (...)

The Tunisian Workers Communist Party (PCOT), a Marxist-Leninist political party, was founded in 1986, but was banned until this year. Most of its candidates running for the constituent assembly hail from Tunisia’s coastal regions. PCOT is well-organised, and is particularly popular with Tunisia’s student population. Many of the so-called “Kasbah protestors”, who have been demonstrating in Tunis’ Kasbah Square since January for more revolutionary changes to Tunisia’s political system, also support PCOT. (...)


Some parties have formed alliances heading into the October 23 election. The Democratic Modernist Coalition (PDM) was formed in May as an alliance between several parties, including Ettajdid (Renewal), the Leftist Socialist Party, the Republican Party, and the Centrist Way.(...)

Policy-wise, Afek Tounes is a polar opposite of PCOT. This right-wing party was founded by neoliberal economists and is led by Emna Mnif, a medicine professor. (...)

Several parties have emerged out of Ben Ali’s Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) party. These parties include al-Waten (The Nation), founded by RCD members who had previously served as Minister of Trade and Tourism and Minister of the Interior; al-Moubedra (The Initiative); the Justice and Liberty party; and The Independence for Liberty party. (...)


Over 100 political parties were granted permission to run candidates in the upcoming constituent assembly election. Hizb ut-Tahrir, a Salafist, pan-Islamist party, has not been allowed to participate, because Tunisian authorities have argued that parties that do not respect democracy cannot be legalised. However, Hizb ut-Tahrir leader Ridha Belhadj told Al Jazeera, "We don't need authorisation from the government, we have authorisation from the people". (...)


The small Tunisian Pirate Party (PPT) garnered media attention in January, when several party members were arrested and jailed by the Ben Ali regime for participating in anti-government protests. After Ben Ali’s departure, Slim Amamou, a Pirate Party member who was tortured during his detention, was appointed to be Tunisia’s Secretary of State for Sport and Youth. However, Amamou - who is also the CEO of a web development company - resigned in May after the Tunisian government blocked several websites. (...)

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