Popular Unity Movement

Popular Unity Movement حركة الوحدة الشعبية

French name	Mouvement d'unité populaire
Abbreviation	MUP
Secretary-General	Ahmed Ben Saleh
Founded	May 1973 (1973-05)
Legalized	8 March 2011
Assembly of the Representatives of the People	0 / 217
Website
mup.centerblog.net
Politics of Tunisia Political parties Elections

Popular Unity Movement (Mouvement d'Unité Populaire, MUP), is a socialist political party in Tunisia.

The MUP was formed by Ahmed Ben Saleh in Swiss exile in 1973. Ben Salah was a trade unionist (Tunisian General Labour Union, UGTT) who had been a member of the ruling Socialist Destourian Party (PSD) and minister of economic planning in the government of Habib Bourguiba. In this role he pursued a communitarian socialist policy, aiming for a more unified and enlightened society by the means of a strong government.^[1] Ben Salah was made responsible for the economic failure of the late 1960s, dropped from the government, expelled from the PSD and sentenced to 10 years of forced labour in 1970. He managed to escape from prison in 1973 and fled abroad. His new party gathered intellectuals and Tunisian expatriates living in Europe. In 1977, it published a Charter of Democratic and Popular Liberties which had great influence on the political debate in Tunisia.^[1] However, the party remained illegal. When the more reformist Mohammed Mzali became Prime Minister, he allowed oppositional parties to run candidates' lists in elections and announced to officially recognize them in case they managed to win more than 5 percent. However, the government rigged the elections and the MUP received, according to official results, less than 1 percent.^[2] Ben Salah therefore announced to boycott further elections. A more moderate faction which disagreed with Ben Salah, broke away in 1981 and formed the Popular Unity Party (PUP), which gained official recognition in 1983.^[3]

After the Tunisian revolution 2011, the MUP was finally legalised. But in the following election for the Constituent Assembly it failed to win any seats.

References

1 2 Alexander, Christopher (2010), Tunisia: Stability and Reform in the Modern Maghreb, Routledge, p. 46
↑ Alexander (2010), Tunisia, p. 48
↑ Alexander (2010), Tunisia, p. 126

Political parties in Tunisia

Assembly of the Representatives of the People	Nidaa Tounes (86) Ennahda Movement (69) Free Patriotic Union (16) Popular Front (15) Afek Tounes (8) Congress for the Republic (4) Democratic Current (3) National Destourian Initiative (3) People's Movement (3) Current of Love (2) Democratic Alliance Party (1) Farmers' Voice Party (1) Movement of Socialist Democrats (1) National Front for Salvation (1) Republican Party (1)

Unrepresented	Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties Destourian Movement Green Tunisia Party Justice and Development Party Maghrebi Republican Party Pirate Party Popular Unity Movement Popular Unity Party Reform Front Party Social Democratic Path Social Liberal Party Socialist Party Tunisian Pirate Party Unionist Democratic Union Voice of the People of Tunisia Wafa Movement Al-Watan Party

Defunct	Destour (1920–60) Neo Destour (1934–64) Communist Party (1934–93) Socialist Destourian Party (1964–88) Democratic Constitutional Rally (1988–2011) Progressive Democratic Party (1983–2012) Ettajdid Movement (1993–2012)

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