Ahmed Mestiri: The Fiercest Opponent of Bourguiba and a Most Prominent Founder of Tunisia

On May 23, 2021, Tunisia lost the "pioneer of democracy" and politician Ahmed Mestiri, at the age of 96.

The Presidency of the Government said, in a statement of his obituary, that "Ahmed Mestiri is one of the most prominent national fighters in the colonial era (French 1881-1956) and one of the founders of the modern Tunisian state after independence, as he held several ministerial positions such as defense, interior, justice and finance." 

The Speaker of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People (Parliament), Rached Ghannouchi, also mourned, in a statement, Mestiri, describing him as "the pioneer of the Tunisian democratic movement." 

In a post on his Facebook account, former President Moncef Marzouki said, "One of the pioneers of democracy in Tunisia passed away, Ahmed Mestiri. May he be in the protection of God and history. My condolences to his family and to all the democrats who accompanied his struggle for half a century."

Most Prominent Founder of Tunisia

The Tunisian "Ennahda Movement" said, in a statement, that the fighter Ahmed Mestiri is one of the sons and symbols of the Tunisian national movement, and is one of the most important figures who contributed to the establishment of political action and who defended partisan pluralism and democracy. He worked to establish the national state after independence.

The "Heart of Tunisia" party considered that "Tunisia has lost one of the biggest fighters in the colonial era, the most prominent founders of the modern state, and he was known for his struggle for freedoms, pluralism and human rights," while the Republican Party considered Mestiri to be "the fighter, statesman and one of the pioneers of democracy" in the country".

Ahmed Mestiri was born in July 1925, in La Marsa (north of Tunis), into a wealthy family of large landlords. He is from the city of Monastir. 

In 1956, the late fighter married Souad Chenik, the daughter of the former Grand Minister Muhamed Chenik. He had five children, including four children: Idris, Taher, Hatim, Monsef, and a daughter, Sima. 

From his early youth, in 1942, he belonged to the Constitutional Division in La Marsa, then studied law in Algeria between 1944 and 1948, then at the Institute of Political Studies and the Faculty of Law in Paris, where he obtained a BA. 

Since 1948, Mestiri has been involved in the legal profession in Tunis. He became a member of the University of Tunis for the New Constitutional Liberal Party in 1950, and a participant in the French-language weekly newspaper "Mission". 

In January 1952, Mestiri entered the secret political bureau of the party, which became led by Farhat Hached and advocated as a lawyer for the nationalist militants in the French civil and military courts. 

The fighter was then subjected to an assassination attempt by the terrorist organization "The Red Hand", which was formed by the French intelligence services to be active in the Maghreb, and which assassinated the union leader, Farhat Hached. 

The Fiercest Opponent

In August 1954, Mestiri became the chief of staff of the Minister of Interior, Mongi Selim. 

In the first government formed by Habib Bourguiba after independence, on April 14, 1956, Mestiri was named to the head of the State Secretariat ( the Ministry of Justice) , where he contributed to the Tunisian judiciary and the drafting of new laws, including the Personal Status Code. 

Soon after, he became his country's representative in the United Nations Security Council following the conflict with France in the context of the bombing of Sakiet "Sidi Youssef" on February 8, 1958. 

On December 10, 1958, he was assigned the Finance and Trade Ministries, and  one of his priorities was to conclude a series of agreements with France and issue a new currency, the Tunisian Dinar.

In 1960, he was appointed ambassador to the Soviet Union, then to the United Arab Republic (a union between Syria and Egypt) in 1961, and then to Algeria in 1962.

In January 1966, he returned to Tunisia to take over the Ministry of Defense, and after publicly expressing his opposition to the policy of agricultural and commercial solidarity of Ahmed Bensalah, he was expelled from the ruling Socialist Constitutional Party in January 1968, and he had to wait for Ahmed Bensalah to be removed to return to the political bureau of the party in April 1970. 

In June of the same year, he was appointed Minister of the Interior, to resign in the same month of 1971 - that is, a year later - due to President Habib Bourguiba's failure to fulfill the promises he made regarding political openness, as there was no legal party, except the constitutional socialist, Bourguiba's party . 

At the time, he described Ahmed Mestiri as "the most powerful minister of Bourguiba" and one of his fiercest opponents. He was called "the father of democracy" because he was the first to publicly oppose Habib Bourguiba. 

During the party congress held in October of the same year, he was elected to the Central Committee to succeed Al-Bahi Al-Agham. 

Fearing that the liberals would control the party, Bourguiba suspended Ahmed Mestiri's activity, then expelled him permanently  in 1972, and in 1973 he was expelled from Parliament, in which he had been a member since independence. 

In 1978, Ahmed Mestiri founded the "Social Democrats" movement, with the participation of Mustapha Ben Jaafar (chairman of the National Constituent Assembly between 2011 and 2014), and former Minister Hamouda Ben Slema, and assumed its general secretariat.

He Chose Solitude

In 1981, his party participated in the first pluralist elections that ended with the announcement of a landslide victory for the ruling party, and more than one official, most notably the former president, Beji Caid Essebsi, revealed that the parliamentary elections in October 1981 were rigged, and the ruling party was declared the winner, instead of the Social Democrats Mouvement. 

During the eighties of the twentieth century, Mestiri was subjected to harassment by the ruling regime, and in 1986 he was arrested and placed under house arrest after his participation in April 1986 in a demonstration condemning the American aggression against Libya. 

In 1989, the regime of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali held parliamentary elections marred by fraud in favor of the lists of the "Constitutional Democratic Rally" of Ben Ali's party, and disputes broke out within the "Social Democrats" movement over the evaluation of these elections. 

At that time, Mestiri decided to voluntarily withdraw from the General Secretariat of the "Social Democrats", and ended all political activities.

Mestiri returned after the January 2011 revolution, and at the end of 2013, following the most severe political crisis in the country. 

The name of the deceased was proposed to preside over the 2014 elections, and to head the technocratic (non-partisan) “government of competencies” emanating from the national dialogue, which overthrew the government of Ali Laarayedh, after the assassination of leftist activists Chokri Belaid and Mohamed Brahmi.

However, he refused and stayed isolated at his home, so that Mahdi Jomaa was chosen as prime minister.

The Tunisian President, Kais Saied, participated in the funeral ceremony of the deceased in "Sidi Abdel Aziz" cemetery in Marsa.