History of modern Tunisia discipline. The elections were then swept by the Neo Destour party, whose leader Habib Bourguiba became prime minister. On 25 July 1957, the monarchy was abolished, the beylical office terminated, and Tunisia proclaimed a Republic. The assembly then made Bourguiba the first president, of what would be a single-party state. The Neo Destour regime sought to run a strictly structured regime with efficient and equitable state operations, but not with democratic-style politics. In effect, Bourguiba dominated the country for the next 31 years. He governed with programs yielding stability and economic progress, repressing Islamic fundamentalism, and establishing rights for women
Habib Bourguiba Interior, Ahmed Mestiri. During the Congress of Monastir that started on 19 June, Bourguiba, returning after six months of treatment abroad, designated three successive "heirs": "It is with confidence that I foresee the day when my journey in this world comes to an end, Nouira shall succeed me as later will do Mestiri then Masmoudi". But the congress adopted a turning that seemed not to please the President. After Mestiri's attempt to seize control of the party, Bourguiba suspended him, along with his allies and declared finished the works of the Central Committee: "It is more than clear that, while