The party was founded on 30 November 1988 when it was recognized by the authorities.[3] Its founder and first secretary-general Abderrahmane Tlili had been a member of the RCD before he founded the UDU in order to gather Arab nationalists, including Baathists and Nasserists, in a party that was close to the government.[4] The party publishes a newspaper, entitled Al Watan.[3]
In 1994, the electoral law was changed, ensuring the parliamentary representation of minor parties. The MDS received three of 163 seats (19 being reserved for the opposition).[5] In the 1999 election, the party won seven seats, which it won again in the 2004 election. In 2009, this increased to nine seats.
^Boyan Belev (2000), Forcing Freedom: Political Control of Privatization and Economic Opening in Egypt and Tunisia, University Press of America, p. 104
