Habib Bourguiba modern Tunisia. Bourguiba, who advocated for independence insisting on the maturity of the Tunisian people, ended up judging that his country was not prepared for democracy and political pluralism and even proclaimed himself president for life. As for him, "the people were not yet mature enough for democracy" which was evaded in the name of the unity his project was involving. Consequently, once the bases of a modern state were built, Bourguiba chose gradually a "paternalistic authoritarian" regime. This culminated in the SPD being formally declared the only legally permitted party in 1963. Consequently, political democracy in the Western sense
Habib Bourguiba Bourguiba decided to react by sabotaging Thaalbi's meetings. In Mateur, the fight ended with numerous deaths and injured but Bourguiba succeeded in strengthening his positions and appearing as the unique leader of the nationalist movement, rejecting, once and for all Pan-Arabism and anti-occidentalism. The split up was, therefore, final between both parties. Fearing attacks, the Destourian party gave up public meetings, using newspapers to respond their opponents. However, Bourguiba chose moderation regarding the relation with France. Meanwhile, within the party, two factions appeared: The first one, moderate, was led by El Materi, Guiga and Sfar, favoring dialogue while the second