- Arabic:
- al-Nahḍah
- Full name:
- Ḥizb Ḥarakat al-Nahḍah (“Renaissance Movement Party”)
- Date:
- 1981 - present
- Areas Of Involvement:
- Islam
- Related People:
- Rached Ghannouchi
Ennahda Party
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What is the Ennahda Party?
The Ennahda Party is a Tunisian political party founded in 1981 by Rached Ghannouchi and Abdelfattah Mourou. Originally known as the Islamic Tendency Movement, it advocated for a fairer distribution of economic resources, multiparty democracy, and greater integration of religiosity into daily life, while claiming to pursue these goals through nonviolent means.
After the ousting of President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, Ennahda was formally legalized and became a major political force in Tunisia. It won 90 seats in the 2011 elections and helped draft the 2014 constitution. In 2016, the party shifted its focus from Islamization to ensuring a stable democracy, emphasizing the protection of religious freedom. Despite losing seats in the 2019 parliamentary election, Ennahda emerged as the largest party. However, it faced challenges during the 2021 constitutional crisis and opposed President Kais Saied's suspension of parliament.
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Where is the Ennahda Party based?
The Ennahda Party is a Tunisian political party founded in 1981 by Rached Ghannouchi and Abdelfattah Mourou. After the revolution that removed Pres. Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali from power in January 2011, Ghannouchi returned to Tunisia after more than 20 years in exile, and Ennahda was officially legalized in February 2011, allowing it to enter candidates in elections. In the years that followed, the party was one of Tunisia's most popular and influential, helping draft the 2014 constitution and supporting the secularist Nida Tounes party in a unity government.
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When was the Ennahda Party founded?
The Ennahda Party is a Tunisian political party founded in 1981 by Rached Ghannouchi and Abdelfattah Mourou as the Islamic Tendency Movement. Its initial platform advocated for a fairer distribution of economic resources, the establishment of multiparty democracy, and injecting more religiosity into daily life, all through nonviolent means. In 1989, the party took its current name in an effort to gain legal recognition. After the Tunisian revolution in 2011, which forced President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali from power, Ennahda was officially legalized.
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What are the main beliefs or goals of the Ennahda Party?
The Ennahda Party, founded in 1981, initially called for a fairer distribution of economic resources, multiparty democracy, and integrating more religiosity into daily life, while claiming to seek these goals through nonviolent means.
After Tunisia's 2011 revolution, Ennahda was legalized and became a major political force, helping draft the 2014 constitution and supporting a unity government. By 2016, Ennahda shifted its focus from Islamization to ensuring a stable democracy rooted in Muslim values, due to the successful protection of religious freedom. Despite some tensions and challenges, Ennahda has generally shown a willingness to compromise and cooperate with secular parties to ensure Tunisia's stability.
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How has the Ennahda Party influenced politics in Tunisia?
The Ennahda Party has been a significant influence in Tunisian politics since its formal legalization in 2011, following the ousting of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali. In the elections for the Constituent Assembly in October 2011, Ennahda secured 90 seats and demonstrated a commitment to multiparty democracy and incorporating religiosity into public life.
Despite initial concerns about its intentions, the party adopted a largely conciliatory approach during the transition to a new government, including supporting gender parity in elections. After the assassinations of secularist politicians in 2013, Ennahda stepped down in favor of a caretaker government and collaborated with secularists to draft a new constitution in 2014.
In 2016, Ennahda shifted its focus from Islamization to ensuring a stable democracy, while maintaining its political platform rooted in Muslim values. Although the party lost seats in the 2019 parliamentary election, it still emerged as the largest party. Ennahda opposed Kais Saied's suspension of parliament in 2021, which led to internal divisions and resignations. The party was later excluded from constitutional reform dialogues and boycotted the 2022 referendum.
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What role did the Ennahda Party play after the Tunisian Revolution?
After the Tunisian Revolution in 2011, the Ennahda Party was formally legalized, allowing them to participate in elections. In October 2011, Ennahda won 90 seats in the 217-member Constituent Assembly, whose job was to appoint an interim cabinet and draft a new constitution.
Despite concerns about their intentions, Ennahda adopted a largely conciliatory approach during the transition, even stepping down from power in 2013 in favor of a caretaker government after the assassinations of two secularist politicians. The party then worked with the secularist Nida Tounes party to draft a new constitution that went into effect in 2014 and supported a unity government led by Nida Tounes in the subsequent parliament.
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Ennahda Party, Tunisian political party, founded in 1981 by Rached Ghannouchi (Rāshid al-Ghannūshī) and Abdelfattah Mourou (ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ Mūrū) as the Islamic Tendency Movement. Its platform called for a fairer distribution of economic resources, the establishment of multiparty democracy, and the injection of more religiosity into daily life; it claimed to seek these goals through nonviolent means. After 1984 the party was reorganized to operate clandestinely as well as publicly. In an effort to gain legal recognition, it took its current name in 1989. The party remained illegal during the administration of Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali.
After Ben Ali was forced from power by popular demonstrations in 2011, Ennahda was formally legalized, paving the way for the group to enter candidates in elections. An election was held on October 23 to determine the composition of a 217-member Constituent Assembly, whose mandate was to appoint an interim cabinet and draft a new constitution. Ennahda was the most organized and established contender that was credibly opposed to the old regime. With voter turnout of nearly 70 percent, Ennahda won 90 seats in the assembly.
The party’s strength in Tunisia prompted concerns over its intentions and its ideology, but it proved largely conciliatory throughout the transition to a new government. When concerns arose over women’s rights in 2011, a law was passed requiring parties to alternate male and female candidates in election lists to enforce gender parity. Ennahda complied, and 39 of the 58 women elected to the Constituent Assembly represented the party. In 2013, after the assassinations of two secularist politicians polarized the country and threatened its stability, Ennahda stepped down from power in favour of a caretaker government. The party worked intently with the secularist Nida Tounes party, drafting a new constitution with concessions from both Islamists and secularists that went into effect in 2014. In the subsequent parliament it supported a unity government led by Nida Tounes.
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In 2016 Ennahda announced that its activity would focus on ensuring a stable democracy in Tunisia rather than the Islamization of the country, though its political platform would remain rooted in Muslim values. Its leaders attributed the shift to the successful and stable protection of religious freedom under the new constitution: because the government no longer repressed Islamic institutions and devout religious practice, the party no longer needed to edify and mobilize Islamic institutions. Its support for stability was showcased in 2018 when leaders of Nida Tounes turned on their party’s own prime minister, Youssef Chahed, especially due to clashes with the party’s executive director; Ennahda’s continued support for Chahed helped him survive a vote of confidence.
When the second parliamentary election under the 2014 constitution was held in October 2019, the electorate was fractured amid an ongoing economic crisis and growing concern over corruption. Ennahda lost 17 seats but won a plurality, becoming the largest party in the parliament. Although Ennahda initially supported the presidency of Kais Saied, who was elected in October 2019, a constitutional crisis ensued in January 2021 regarding oversight of the prime minister’s cabinet. With the government at an impasse, protests brewed in July, and Saied suspended parliament. Ennahda strongly opposed the action, but Ghannouchi soon called for dialogue over the matter; Saied refused and later made his suspension of parliament indefinite. Critical of Ghannouchi’s inability to confront Saied, more than 100 prominent members of Ennahda resigned from the party in September.
Ennahda, like several other major political actors in Tunisia, was excluded from dialogue on constitutional reform under Saied. The party boycotted the referendum on the drafted reforms in July 2022, which were approved and promulgated without obstacle, and it refused to field candidates for the parliamentary election in December.