Neo Destour
Independence of Tunisia from France was negotiated largely by the Neo Destour's Bourguiba. The effective date was March 20, 1956. The next year the Republic of Tunisia was constituted, which replaced the Beylical form of government. Tunisia became a one-party state, with Neo Destour as the ruling party under Prime Minister and later President Habib Bourguiba. Later the Neo Destour party was renamed the Socialist Destourian Party in 1964, to signal the government's commitment to a socialist phase of political-economic development. This phase failed to fulfill expectations, however, and was discontinued in 1969 with the dismissal of Ahmad ben Salah as economics minister by President Bourguiba.