Mustapha Ben Jafar

Mustapha Ben Jafar (Arabic: مصطفى بن جعفر) (born 8 December 1940) is a Tunisian politician and medical doctor who was Speaker of the Constituent Assembly of Tunisia from November 2011 to December 2014. He founded and has led the Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties (FDTL), a political party, since 1994.

Mustapha Ben Jafar
مصطفى بن جعفر
Speaker of the Constituent Assembly
In office
22 November 2011 – 2 December 2014
Preceded bySahbi Karoui (Acting Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies)
Mekki Aloui (Acting Speaker of the Chamber of Advisors)
Succeeded byMohamed Ennaceur (Speaker of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People)
Minister of Health
In office
17 January 2011 – 27 January 2011
PresidentFouad Mebazaa (Acting)
Prime MinisterMohamed Ghannouchi
Preceded byMondher Zenaidi
Succeeded byHabiba Zehi Ben Romdhane
Secretary General of Ettakatol
Assumed office
25 October 2002
Preceded byPosition established
Personal details
Born (1940-12-08) 8 December 1940
Tunis, Tunisia
Political partyDemocratic Forum for Labour and Liberties

Biography

Ben Jafar was born in 1940 in Tunis. He attended Sadiki College from 1950–1956, then studied medicine in France to become a radiologist. In 1970 he returned to Tunisia, joined the University of Tunis's medical faculty and worked also at the university hospital. In 1976 he was one of the founders of a weekly opinion magazine and an organization that evolved into the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH).

In 1978 he joined others to start a political party, the Movement of Socialist Democrats (MDS). The MDS was the largest opposition party as of 1991 and the ruling party made an apparent attempt to work with the MDS as a "participatory opposition." Ben Jafar was the secretary-general of the MDS in 1992, and ran for the top MDS office, but lost to Mohamed Moadda, and resigned from the party because it seemed to have cooperated with the ruling party so much (receiving a government subsidy and accommodations) and achieved so little.[1]

In 1994 Ben Jafar founded the Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties party (abbreviated FDTL and also called Ettakatol). It was not legally recognized until 2002. He attempted to run for the presidency in 2009 as the FDTL candidate but was disqualified and was in any case widely understood to have no chance to win against the established authoritarian incumbent president Ben Ali.[2]

Post-revolutionary life

Turbulent protests in January 2011 drove President Ben Ali from the country, and Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi included Ben Jafar as Minister of Health in an interim government beginning 17 January 2011.[3][4] Along with other minority party members, Ben Jafar resigned within days as public protests continued against the continued dominance of the RCD party in government. Ben Jafar was succeeded as health minister by Habiba Zehi Ben Romdhane.[5]

In the October 2011 elections to the Constituent Assembly Ben Jafar's party placed fourth and he was elected to a seat in the Constituent Assembly. Supported by his own party, Ben Jafar was considered a possible candidate for President in the wake of the election, receiving open consideration from Ennahda, which had received a plurality of seats.[6] The leading parties agreed instead on a power-sharing arrangement according to which Ben Jafar would be named Speaker of the Constituent Assembly. He was elected to that post by the Assembly when it met on 22 November 2011, receiving 145 votes against 68 for opposition candidate Maya Jribi.[7]

Published works
  • Un si long chemin vers la démocratie, ed. Nirvana, Tunis, 2014

References
  1. Murphy, Emma. Economic and political change in Tunisia: from Bourguiba to Ben Ali. pp. 209-211.
  2. Beaugé, Florence. "En Tunisie, l'opposant Mustapha Ben Jaafar candidat à la présidentielle" Le Monde 25 September 2009.(fr)
  3. Belaid, Fethi; AFP staff (17 January 2011). "Photo of Mustapha Ben Jaafar plus caption". Agence France-Presse, Getty Images. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
  4. Maktabi, Rima. "Troops battle ex-ruler's bodyguards in Tunisia." CNN.com, Jan 16 2011.
  5. Belaid, Fethi; AFP staff (28 January 2011). "Photo of Habiba Zehi Ben Romdhane plus caption". Agence France-Presse, Getty Images. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
  6. Houssem Sta Ali. Who will be Tunisia's next president? Archived 2012-03-09 at the Wayback Machine. Tunisialive web site. 27 Oct 2011.
  7. Sadok Ayari, "Mustapha Ben Jaafar Elected President of the Constituent Assembly" Archived 2012-01-09 at the Wayback Machine, Tunisia Live, 22 November 2011.
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