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 Mathilde obtained Tunisian citizenship, converted to Islam and adopted the name of Moufida. On 21 July 1961, they ended up divorcing. On 12 April 1962, Bourguiba married Wassila Ben Ammar, a woman from a family of Tunis bourgeoisie he had known for 18 years. Together, they adopted a girl named Hajer. Wassila took a larger part in politics over the deteriorating health of her husband, which would give her the title of "Majda" (Venerable). Their divorce, on 11 August 1986, with a mere statement and without any respected legal proceedings, largely contributed in the fall of the regime. Habib Bourguiba