Al-Watan Party (Tunisia) way for younger politicians. Al-Watan Party (Tunisia) The Homeland Party (, "Ḥizb el-Waṭan"; ) or El-Watan Party is a centrist party in Tunisia, that was launched on 19 February 2011 and officially licensed on 9 March 2011. It was founded by Mohamed Jegham, former minister of trade and tourism, Ahmed Friaa, former minister of the interior in the Government of Mohamed Ghannouchi, and ten other leaders. Both Jegham and Friaa come from the ranks of the old dominant party Constitutional Democratic Rally, sustaining the Zine El Abidine Ben Ali regime. On 13 June 2011, Friaa announced his resignation from the
Tunisian Revolution immolation and the subsequent heavy-handed response by the police to peaceful marchers caused riots the next day in Sidi Bouzid that went largely unnoticed, although social media sites such as Facebook and YouTube featured images of police dispersing youths who attacked shop windows and damaged cars. Bouazizi was subsequently transferred to a hospital near Tunis. In an attempt to quell the unrest President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali visited Bouazizi in hospital on 28 December 2010. Bouazizi died on 4 January 2011. On 28 November 2010, WikiLeaks and five major newspapers (Spain's "El País", France's "Le Monde", Germany's "Der Spiegel",