Congress for the Republic

Congress for the Republic المؤتمر من أجل الجمهورية
French name	Congrès pour la République
President	Moncef Marzouki
Vice-President	Abderraouf Ayadi
Slogan	Sovereignty of the people, dignity of the citizen, legitimacy of the state.a
Founded	July 25, 2001 (2001-07-25)[1]
Headquarters	45 Ali Darghouth, 1000 Tunis
Newspaper	Tunisie Avenir (French)
Ideology	Liberalism[2], Secularism[3][4] Social liberalism Democratic socialism[5]
Political position	Centre-left[3][6]
Official colors	Red and Green
Banned	2002[7]
Legalized	March 8, 2011
Constituent Assembly	29 / 217
Election symbol
Website
cpr.tn mottamar.com
Politics of Tunisia Political parties Elections ^ a. Arabic: السيادة للشعب، الكرامة للمواطن، الشرعية للدولة‎[8] French: La souveraineté du peuple, la dignité du citoyen, la légitimité de l'état.[9]

The Congress for the Republic (Arabic: المؤتمر من أجل الجمهورية‎, al-Mu’tamar min ajl il-Jumhūriyyah ; French: Congrès pour la République), also referred to as Al Mottamar or by its French acronym CPR, is a centre-left secular political party in Tunisia. It was created in 2001^[10], but legalised only after the 2011 Tunisian revolution. It has been led since its foundation by Moncef Marzouki.^[1][11]

History

Foundation

The creation of the CPR was declared on 25 July 2001^[10] by 31 people including the physician, medicine professor and human rights activist Moncef Marzouki as President, Naziha Réjiba (Oum Ziad) as Secretary-general, Abderraouf Ayadi as Vice-President, Samir Ben Amor as Treasurer, and Mohamed Chakroun as Honorary President.^[1] The CPR declared that it was aimed to install a republican form of government "for the first time"in Tunisia, including freedom of speech, freedom of association, and the holding of "free, honest" elections, "guaranteed by national and international observers able to genuinely check all levels of the electoral process".^[10] The CPR's declaration also called for a new constitution, strict separation of the different forms of government, human rights guarantees, gender equality, and a constitutional court for protecting individual and collective rights.^[10] The CPR called for "renegotiating" Tunisian commitments toward the European Union, for Tunisia to support the rights of national self-determination, in particular for the Palestinian people.^[10]

2001–2010

In 2002, during the Zine El Abidine Ben Ali presidency, the CPR was banned.^[7] Its leader Marzouki went into exile in Paris.^[12] However, the party continued a de facto existence, being run from France until 2011.^[7]

2011

Following the replacement of President Ben Ali by acting President Fouad Mebazaa during the 2010–2011 Tunisian protests, CPR President Moncef Marzouki announced that he would return to Tunisia and be a candidate in the next Tunisian general election.^[7] He returned to Tunisia on the 18th of January 2011.

The Congress for the Republic's symbol is a red pair of glasses, alluding to Moncef Marzouki's characteristic glasses. Young supporters of the CPR are known to wear red glasses as an accessory to show their admiration for Marzouki.^[13][14]

Party officials

• Moncef Marzouki, president
• Abderraouf Ayadi, vice-president
• Mohamed Abbou
• Fethi Jerbi
• Zouhour Kourda
• Samir Ben Amor
• Monia Bouali
• Khaled Ben Mbarek^[11]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Première liste des membres fondateurs du CPR [First list of the founding members of the CPR]" (in French). Congress for the Republic. 2001-07-25. Archived from the original on 2011-01-17. http://www.webcitation.org/5voUASdAM. Retrieved 2011-01-17. 
2. ^ Ottaway, Marina (28 January 2011), Who Will Lead Tunisia?, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, http://carnegieendowment.org/2011/01/28/who-will-lead-tunisia/7ev, retrieved 21 Oct 2011 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Tunisia: Key players". BBC News Online. 2011-02-27. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12214649. Retrieved 2011-05-30. 
4. ^ "Tunisia: who are the opposition leaders?". The Daily Telegraph. 2011-01-18. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/tunisia/8265285/Tunisia-who-are-the-opposition-leaders.html. Retrieved 2011-02-04. 
5. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/tunisia/8849045/Tunisias-victorious-Islamist-party-in-coalition-talks.html
6. ^ Bollier, Sam (9 Oct 2011), Who are Tunisia's political parties?, Al Jazeera English, http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/10/201110614579390256.html, retrieved 21 Oct 2011 
7. ^ ^{a b c d} Farid, Sonia (2011-01-16). "Moncef Marzouki declares presidential candidacy". Al Arabiya News. Archived from the original on 2011-01-17. http://www.webcitation.org/5voVrP3sh. Retrieved 2011-01-17. 
8. ^ "Site du CPR [CPR Website]" (in Arabic). Congress for the Republic. http://cprtunisie.net/index.php. Retrieved 2011-05-04. 
9. ^ "Qui sommes-nous ? [Who are we?]" (in French). Congress for the Republic. 2001. Archived from the original on 2011-01-17. http://www.webcitation.org/5voVHODN2. Retrieved 2011-01-17. 
10. ^ ^{a b c d e} Marzouki, Moncef (2001-07-24). "Déclaration constitutive [Founding Declaration]" (in French). Tunis: Congress for the Republic. Archived from the original on 2011-01-17. http://www.webcitation.org/5voU9rvlT. Retrieved 2011-01-17. 
11. ^ ^{a b} "al-Maktab as-Siyāsī [Party officials]" (in Arabic). Congress for the Republic. http://www.cpr.tn/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=75&Itemid=66&lang=ar. Retrieved 2011-07-29. 
12. ^ Chrisafis, Angelique (19 October 2011), "Tunisian elections: the key parties", The Guardian, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/oct/19/tunisia-elections-the-key-parties, retrieved 22 Oct 2011 
13. ^ "Marzouki Fans", The Guardian, 21 October 2011. Retrieved 23 October 2011.
14. ^ von Randow, Gero (20 October 2011), "Mit Facebook und Scharia" (in German), Zeit, http://www.zeit.de/2011/43/Tunesien-Reportage/seite-1, retrieved 23 October 2011 

External links

• (Arabic) CPR.tn
• (Arabic) Mottamar.com