Ennahda Movement - Tunisian Revolution and Legalisation

Tunisian Revolution and Legalisation

In the wake of the Tunisian Revolution, about 1,000 people welcomed Rachid Ghanoushi 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 Al-Ghannushi 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 Ennahda Movement to gain broad support. On 22 January 2011, in an interview with Al Jazeera TV, Rashid Al-Ghannushi confirmed that he is against an Islamic Caliphate, and supports democracy instead, unlike Hizb ut-Tahrir, (whom Al-Ghannushi accuses of exporting a distorted understanding of Islam).

The party was legalised on 1 March 2011. A March 2011 opinion poll found the Ennahda Movement 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 Ennahda'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.

Ennahda'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 Koran." 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 Ennahda 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 Ennahda Movement 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.

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.