Ennahda Movement

Early years

Succeeding a group known as Islamic Action, the party was founded under the name of "The Movement of Islamic Tendency" (French: Mouvement de la Tendence Islamique (MTI), Arabic: حركة الاتجاه الإسلامي‎‎ Ḥarakatu l-Ittijāhu l-Islāmī) in 1981. After the Tunisian bread riots in January 1984 the government suspected the MTI of involvement in the disturbances, and arrested many of its supporters. The MTI leaders had encouraged their followers to join in the riots, but the government produced no proof that they had organized them. The persecution of the MTI enhanced its reputation as an organization committed to helping the people. In 1989, it changed its name to Ḥarakat Ennahḍha.

The party has been described as one of many parties/movements in Muslim states "that grew up alongside the Iranian revolution", and it was originally inspired by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. The group supported the 1979 takeover of the U.S. embassy in Teheran, claiming that "It was not an embassy, but a spy centre". Their influence in 1984 was such that, according to Robin Wright, a British journalist living in Tunisia stated that the Islamic Tendency was "the single most threatening opposition force in Tunis. One word from the fundamentalists will close down the campus or start a demonstration." The group, or members of it, were also responsible for the bombing of some tourist hotels in the 1980s.

Although traditionally shaped by the thinking of Islamist thinkers Sayyid Qutb and Maududi, the party began to be described as "moderate Islamist" in the 1980s when it advocated democracy and a "Tunisian" form of Islamism recognizing political pluralism and a "dialogue" with the West. Its main leader Rached Ghannouchi, has been criticized for calling for jihad against Israel. and "openly threatened U.S. interests, supported Iraq against the United States and campaigned against the Arab-Israeli peace process". Others described him as "widely considered ... a moderate who believes that Islam and democracy are compatible".

In the 1989 elections, President Ben Ali banned the party from participating but allowed some members to run as independents. These received between 10% and 17% of the vote nationally according to official figures of the regime, and despite what some observers thought was "widespread fraud". Allegedly surprised by Ennahda’s popularity, two years later Ben Ali banned the movement and jailing 25,000 activists. Ennahdha activists attacked the ruling party headquarters, killing one person and splashing acid in the faces of several others. Many Ennahdha members went into exile.

Ennahdha's newspaper Al-Fajr was banned in Tunisia and its editor, Hamadi Jebali, was sentenced to sixteen years imprisonment in 1992 for membership in the un-authorized organisation and for "aggression with the intention of changing the nature of the state". The Arabic language television station El Zaytouna is believed to be connected with Ennahdha. The party was strongly repressed in the late 1980s and early 1990s and almost completely absent from Tunisia from 1992 until the post-revolutionary period. "Tens of thousands" of Islamists were imprisoned or exiled during this time.

Return to Tunisia's political scene

In the wake of the Tunisian Revolution, a few thousands of people welcomed Rached Ghannouchi on his return to Tunis. The party has been described as moving "quickly to carve out a place" in the Tunisian political scene, "taking part in demonstrations and meeting with the prime minister." Earlier Ghannouchi announced that the party had "signed a shared statement of principles with the other Tunisian opposition groups". The New York Times reported mixed predictions among Tunisians for the party's success, with some believing the party would enjoy support in the inland part of Tunisia, but others saying Tunisia was too secular for the Ennahdha Party to gain broad support. On 22 January 2011, in an interview with Al Jazeera TV, Rached Ghannouchi confirmed that he is against an Islamic Caliphate, and supports democracy instead, unlike Hizb ut-Tahrir, (whom Ghannouchi accuses of exporting a distorted understanding of Islam).

The party was legalised on 1 March 2011. A March 2011 opinion poll found the Ennahdha Party ranked first among political parties in Tunisia with 29%, followed by the Progressive Democratic Party at 12.3% and the Ettajdid Movement at 7.1%. It was also found that 61.4% of Tunisians "ignore political parties in the country." This success has caused some secularists to endorse the postponing of elections, and "frightening many secularists and women who fear for their place in the new Tunisia."

In May 2011 Ennahdha's General Secretary Hamadi Jebali traveled to Washington, D.C. on the invitation of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy He also met U.S. Senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman.

Ennahdha's leaders have been described as "highly sensitive to the fears among other Tunisians and in the West about Islamist movements", conscious of the bloody Algerian Civil War between Islamists and the government and the divisions in Palestine between Hamas and secularists. On 18 May spokesman Samir Dilou stated again in an interview: "We do not want a theocracy. We want a democratic state, that is characterised by the idea of liberty. The people are to decide themselves how they live. ... We are not an Islamist party, we are an Islamic party, that also gets its bearings by the principles of the Quran." Moreover, he named Turkey a model, regarding the relation of state and religion, and compared the party's Islamic democratic ideology to Christian democracy in Italy and Germany. A foreign journalist attending Ennahdha rallies in Tunisia noted enthusiasm for the Palestinian cause and the slogan "no to American military bases, no to foreign interventions."

On a press conference in June 2011 the Ennahdha Party presented itself as modern and democratic and introduced a female member who wore a headscarf and a member who didn't, and announced the launching of a youth wing. Süddeutsche Zeitung noted that, unlike leftist parties of Tunisia, the moderately Islamist party is not against a market economy.

2011 Constituent Assembly election

Ahead of the Constituent Assembly election on 23 October 2011, the party conducted a costly electoral campaign, extensively providing potential voters, especially from the lower class, with promotional gifts, meals for the end of Ramadan feasts, and sponsoring events. Therefore, it has been accused of receiving considerable financial contributions from abroad, namely from the Arab states of the Gulf.

In the 23 October 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election, the first free election in the country's history with a turn out of 51.1% of all eligible voters, the Ennahdha Party won 37.04% of the vote (more than the next four biggest vote-getters combined) and 89 of the 217 seats, making it by far the strongest party in the legislature.

According to scholar Noah Feldman, rather than being a "puzzling disappointment for the forces of democracy", the Ennahdha victory is a natural outcome of inevitable differences between revolution's leaders and the fact that "Tunisians see Islam as a defining feature of their personal and political identities." Rached Ghannouchi, the party's leader was one of the few "voices of resistance to the regime in the last 20 years."

Subsequently, it agreed with the two runners-up, the centre-left secular Congress for the Republic (CPR) and Ettakatol, to co-operate in the Assembly and to share the three highest positions in state. Accordingly, Ennahdha supported the election of Ettakatol's secretary-general Mustapha Ben Jafar as President of the Constituent Assembly, and of CPR-leader Moncef Marzouki as Interim President of the Republic. The latter, in exchange, immediately appointed Ennahdha's secretary-general Hamadi Jebali as Prime Minister.

2011–2014 in government

Ennahda formed a government which was criticized for mediocre economic performance, not stimulating the tourism industry, poor relations with Tunisia's biggest trading partner France. In particular it was criticized for not monitoring and controlling radical Islamists (such as Ansar al-Sharia) who were blamed for, among other things, attempting to Islamise the country, the 2012 ransacking and burning of the American embassy, and the assassination of two leftist politicians Chokri Belaid (in February 2013) and Mohamed Brahmi (in July 2013). An anti-Islamist backlash led to the 2013–14 Tunisian political crisis.

On 19 February 2013, following the assassination of Chokri Belaid and ensuing protests, Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali resigned his office, a move which was deemed unprecedented by analysts. The move followed his attempt to form a technocratic government. Ennahdha, however, rejected his resignation insisting on a government of politicians and Jebali formally resigned after a meeting with President Moncef Marzouki saying it was in the best interests of the country. He said: "I promised if my initiative did not succeed I would resign as head of the government, and this is what I am doing following my meeting with the president. Today there is a great disappointment among the people and we must regain their trust and this resignation is a first step."

Party leader Rached Ghannouchi then suggested a government of politicians and technocrats, while Jebali suggested that if he was tasked with forming a new government it would have to include non-partisan ministers and a variety of political representation that would lead to a new election. Unnamed opposition figures welcomed the resignation. The same day, Standard & Poor's downgraded Tunisia's credit rating. However, the IMF said that it was still in talks for a US$1.78 billion loan to the country. On 14 March 2013, Ali Larayedh was elected as Ennahdha's new Secretary General and officially took over as Tunisia's new Prime Minister.

However, after the assassination of a second secular politician, Mohamed Brahmi in July 2013, there was political deadlock. Enraged secularists held rallies calling for the Ennahda government to step down, and when it refused, called for a coup against it—chanting "no reconciliation, no compromise!". Ennahda itself staged a huge rally 3 August in support of the government remaining in power, where militants chanted "Death to the coup makers!" and booed their party leader Ghanouchi when he told them, "National unity is the highest goal and we will make sacrifices for this unity." Nonetheless Ghanouchi worked with secularist leader Beji Caid Essebsi to forge a compromise agreement and on October 5 signed a "road map" whereby Ennahda would step down for a caretaker government after the new constitution was agreed upon and until new elections were held. Both leaders were heavily criticized by their party rank and file and Ghanouchi received agreement from the Ennahda shura council only by threatening to resign. Outside observers called it a "model transition".

In January 2014, after the new Tunisian Constitution was adopted by popular vote, Ennahdha peacefully quit government and handled the power in the hands of a technocratic government, led by Mehdi Jomaa. Ennahda came second in the October 2014 parliamentary election with 27.79% of the popular vote and formed a coalition government with the larger secularist party Nidaa Tounes.

Ennahda did not put forward or endorse any candidate for the November 2014 presidential election. Ghanouchi "hinted broadly" that he personally supported Beji Caid Essebsi, (who won with over 55% of the vote).

Chairmen

During its first ten years of existence, presidency of Ennahdha changed very often, while its leading figure Rached Ghannouchi was jailed until 1984 and then again in 1987. After going to exile he remained the party's "intellectual leader". In November 1991 he also took back the formal presidency.

Following is a list of all former presidents of the party:

Political positions

In the wake of the compromise worked out by Ghanouchi and Beji Caid Essebsi, the party (or at least its leader), has been complimented for it willingness to compromise, protecting Tunisia's democracy and civil peace from Egyptian style violence. However some Islamists see the party as having lost an opportunity to reverse the "social framework" of secularism in the country.

The party is generally described as socially centrist with mild support for economic liberalism and has been compared to European Christian democrats. However, liberals accuse its leaders of "doublespeak" in this regard. The party wishes to revise the strong secular, Arab nationalist, and socialist principles that predominate among the other parties, and instead allow Islam into public life and be more accommodating to other viewpoints such as closer relations with the West and greater economic freedom. The party currently rejects radical Islamism as a form of governance appropriate for Tunisia, nevertheless Islam remains an important feature of the party; in a debate with a secular opponent Ghannouchi stated, "Why are we put in the same place as a model that is far from our thought, like the Taliban or the Saudi model, while there are other successful Islamic models that are close to us, like the Turkish, the Malaysian, and the Indonesian models; models that combine Islam and modernity?"

Political scientist Riadh Sidaoui explains that the Ennahdha leader models his approach on the moderate Islamism of Turkey; he says : "The leadership was forced into exile in London for a long time [because of harassment by Tunisian police] and understood about the need to have a balanced outlook... No one wants a repeat of the 1991 Algerian scenario."

On 13 November 2011, the party's secretary-general Hamadi Jebali held a joint rally in Sousse together with a parliamentary deputy of the Palestinian Hamas party. Jebali referred to the occasion as "a divine moment in a new state, and in, hopefully, a 6th caliphate," and that "the liberation of Tunisia will, God willing, bring about the liberation of Jerusalem." While the tone was said do be sharply in contrast to official statements of the party, Jebali was appointed Prime Minister of Tunisia a mere month later.

When in January 2012, Hamas leadership arrived for another visit to Tunisia, people at the airport were heard shouting "Kill the Jews." Tunisian Jews said Ennahdha leadership was slow to condemn the shouting.

Ahmed Ibrahim of the Tunisian Pole Democratique Moderniste political bloc complained to a foreign journalist that Ennahdha appears "soft" on television, "but in the mosques, it is completely different. Some of them are calling for jihad". The general manager of Al Arabiya wrote an editorial expressing the opinion that Ennahdha is fundamentally a conservative Islamist party with a moderate leadership. Ennahdha has been described as a mixed bag with moderate top layers and a base defined by "a distinctly fundamentalist tilt".

Although the party has expressed support for women's rights and equality of civil rights between men and women, the party chose to place only two women at first position out of 33 regional lists for the Tunisian Constituent Assembly. Ghannouchi noted that women have not held any de facto leadership positions under Ben Ali's governments and that it is a "reality" that only a few women are currently suited to leadership posts.

The party is more moderate in urbanized areas such as Tunis, where secular and socially liberal beliefs predominate. However, Ennahda's compromises and abanding of Political Islam has made their core supporters lose faith in them.