Ennahda

The Ennahda Movement (Arabic: حركة النهضة, romanized: Ḥarakatu n-Nahḍah; French: Mouvement Ennahdha), also known as the Renaissance Party or simply known as Ennahda, is a self-defined Islamic democratic political party in Tunisia.

Founded as the Movement of Islamic Tendency in 1981, Ennahda was inspired by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and through the latter, to Ruhollah Khomeini's own propelled ideology of "Islamic Government".

In the wake of the 2011 Tunisian revolution and collapse of the government of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the Ennahda Movement Party was formed, and in the 2011 Tunisian Constituent Assembly election (the first free election in the country's history), won a plurality of 37% of the popular vote and formed the government. Uproar in the traditionally secular country over "Islamization" and assassinations of two secular politicians however, led to the 2013–14 Tunisian political crisis, and the party stepped down following the implementation of a new constitution in January 2014. The party came in second with 27.79% of the vote, in the 2014 Tunisian parliamentary election, forming a coalition government with the largest secular party, but did not offer or endorse a candidate in the November 2014 presidential election.

In 2018, lawyers and politicians accused Ennahda of forming a secret organisation that had infiltrated security forces and the judiciary. They also claimed the party was behind the 2013 assassinations of Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi, two progressive political leaders of the leftist Popular Front electoral alliance. Ennahda denied the accusations and accused the Popular Front of slandering and distorting Ennahda. It said that the Popular Front was exploiting the two assassination cases and using blood as an excuse to reach the government after failing to do so through democratic means.

Ideology

In 2016, following 2011 and the "Arab Spring" mainstream media reports, journalist Robert F. Worth called it "the mildest and most democratic Islamist party in history." The Hudson Institute was skeptical, highlighting the adoption of the Velâyat-e Faqih by the movement's founder Rached Ghannouchi, who has remained its president since 1984.