During the Ben Ali rule, it was one of the legal, although oppressed opposition parties.

It was led by its First Secretary Mohamed Harmel from its creation until 2007 and then by Ahmed Brahim until its dissolution.

This increased to five in 1999, before falling to three in the 2004 election and to two in 2009, making it the smallest of the seven parties represented in the Tunisian parliament.

After massive protests in January 2011, Ettajdid gained a post for Ahmed Brahim as Minister of Higher Education.

[6] For the Constituent assembly election, Ettajdid formed a strongly secularist alliance called Democratic Modernist Pole (PDM), of which it was the mainstay.