Chebbi is a prominent figure of the Tunisian opposition movement;[1] in 1983, he founded the Democratic Progressive Party, which gained legal recognition in 1988.

In response to former authoritarian[3] President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali's statement during the 2010–2011 Tunisian protests promising 300,000 new jobs would be created and criticizing the protests, Chebbi said that despite official claims of police firing in self-defense that "the demonstrations were non-violent and the youths were claiming their rights to jobs" and that "the funeral processions [for those killed on January 9] turned into demonstrations, and the police fired [at] the youths who were at these ..

"[1] Following the ousting of Ben Ali on 14 January 2011, Prime Minister Mohammed Ghannouchi contacted Chebbi and other opposition leaders in hopes of creating a coalition government until elections can be held.

"[4] On 15 January 2011, Chebbi was noted by Al Jazeera as one of three potential successors (the only one mentioned not to have been part of the Ben Ali government) to become President of Tunisia following the proposed 2011 general election to occur within six months.

"[5] Chebbi was named Minister of Regional Development in the new government on 17 January 2011,[citation needed] but he resigned in March 2011 after less than two months in his post.