Tunisia 'elects' Bourguiba president for life

Tunisia was under the control of the French mandatory power until 1956 when this small Mediterranean country was able to gain its independence after the Tunisian nation unleashed a wave of violence and demonstrations against the foreign occupation.

The Tunisian struggle for self-government was spear headed by Habib Ibn Ali Bourguiba, who became the architect of Tunisia's independence and the first of only two presidents in Tunisian history. Bourguiba‘s presidency extended from 1957 until 1987. 

Bourguiba was born on Aug., 3, 1903. The seventh child of Ali Bourguiba, a former lieutenant in the army of the Bey (ruler) of Tunisia, Habib received his preliminary education in Sadiki College in Tunis, he later on went to France were he received a law degree from the University of Paris.

Bourguiba married Mathilde Lorrain, a French women, before returning to his country were an upcoming illustrious political career awaited him.

Upon arriving in Tunisia, he started the newspaper L'Action Tunisienne. He was initially an advocate of French-Tunisian cooperation but soon became a staunch warrior for Tunisian independence.

In 1934 Bourguiba formed the Neo-Destour (constitutional) Party which he headed until his party was banned by the French authorities. He was arrested on several occasions by the French, who considered him a threat to their security.

In 1945 Bourguiba finally fled the country and started a worldwide campaign promoting Tunisian claim to self-government.

In June of 1955 he returned to Tunisia and was received by ecstatic crowds and was later on appointed Prime Minster of the newly independent country.

In 1957 Bourguiba was able to depose the Bey of Tunisia, his father’s former master, and was elected president of the republic. In 1975, eighteen years after his ascendance to power Bourguiba was presumably appointed president for life by the constituent assembly.

Habib Bourguiba is considered by many as a North African Ataturk as he introduced modernization into his country thus reducing the influence of religion on the Tunisian society. Among his major contribution was the emancipation of women from the rigid Islamic laws.

Polygamy was outlawed. Marriage was redefined as a voluntary contract that conferred rights upon the wife as well as the husband.

A minimum age for marriage was set, and the consent of the bride was made mandatory. These stipulations in effect outlawed the traditional practice of selling young girls.

Tunisians also transformed the modern concept of marriage as a bond between two individuals rather than an alliance between two families.

Bourguiba believed that modernization could be achieved by drawing on the Western experiment and not dwelling on past glories as he fought against outdated Islamic traditions by discouraging the Holy month of Ramadan. "A modern nation cannot afford to stop for a month every year," he once said, drinking orange juice on television during Ramadan.

Bourguiba also had a pioneering role in the Arab Israeli conflict as he was the first Arab leader to promote a policy of tolerance towards the Zionist state, citing Israeli rights not to be exterminated and thrown in the sea.

His proposal to accept the existence of Israel was ignored by the rest of the Arabs who later adopted Bourguiba’s idea of dealing with Israel. Although he had a pro-western approach to politics this did not stop him from welcoming 1,100 Palestinian fighters after they were evicted from Beirut following the Israeli invasion of the Lebanese capital in 1982.

The Bourguiba government also let the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) set up headquarters in Tunis, which was already the headquarters of the Arab League. 

Although Bourguiba had a major role to play in liberating and modernizing Tunisia, he also instituted the bases for dictatorship and corruption. 

When he was asked about the political system his response was “what system, I am the system”. His second wife, Wassila Bin Ammar, a Tunisian from a prominent family was seen as a power within the presidency.

This was worsened by his attempt to revive the country's impoverished economy by establishing a system of agricultural co-operatives proved a costly failure.

 Bourguiba was able to maintain an impressive façade of democracy as he was successful in portraying his country as the most modern pro-western Arab state.

The supreme warrior, as he was known to his people, had his dream of staying president-for-life interrupted 12 years after its announcement when in 1987 a bloodless coup lead by then Prime Minister General Zeinel-Abidine Bin Ali overthrew Buorguiba’s regime.

Ben Ali was able through his strong connection with the army and the ever weakening status of the old Bourguiba to remove the distinguished president accusing him of incompetence after a team of doctors declared that he was not fit to rule and exile him to his hometown of Monastir, 100 miles south of Tunis. Bourguiba remained in his internal exile until he fell sick and died on April 6, 2003.

This old politician had contributed greatly to Tunisia but he was not able to avoid turning into a dictator himself and as fate would have it he would also be replaced by a dictator whose sole aim is to remain president for life.