Tunisia: Political groups and parties

In December 2010, a Tunisian street vendor set himself on fire in apparent protest against state repression and systematic economic hardship, triggering a series of uprisings across Tunisia and the Middle East, commonly known as the 'Arab Spring'. President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisia's authoritarian leader since 1987, was forced out of power after his government reverted to violence against demonstrators. Although the nascent democracy has been praised internationally for its attempts to bring about reform, Tunisia's democratically elected parties have been facing multiple challenges, such as economic difficulties, regional divisions and an unstable security situation coupled with political rifts threatening to upset the country's political stability.

Author: Joanna Apap with Lucas Leblanc

• Primary Source

EP: EPRS: At a Glance, September 2016: Tunisia: Human rights situation http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/search.html?documentTypes=AT_A_GLANCE

ESO: Background information: Tunisian national dialogue quartet wins 2015 Nobel peace prize http://www.europeansources.info/record/tunisian-national-dialogue-quartet-wins-2015-nobel-peace-prize/

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