Tunisian parties taking part in elections

A glance at the main parties competing in Tunisia's elections for a constitutional assembly. Though there are 117 parties registered and around 80 actually participating only a handful are expected to win any seats.

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ENNAHDA: Founded in the 1970s, the Hizb Ennahda or Renaissance Party, was brutally suppressed by the country's first president, Habib Bourguiba, and then by his successor Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, with thousands of activists jailed. With the fall of Ben Ali, however, it managed to reconstitute itself as the best organized party in the country. It espouses a moderate form of Islam that it says does not clash with the country's progressive traditions, such as …