The interim government installed after the authoritarian Ben Ali's fall, following weeks of street protests, granted unprecedented freedoms that opened the way for the unbanning of certain groups and for exiles to return.
"The Ennahda movement has just been legalized," spokesman Ali El-Aryadh told AFP after it had received the notification from the interior ministry.
"We have waited 30 years to obtain our legalization," he said, adding it had only been achieved because of uprising that toppled Ben Ali on January 14.
"We are entering in a new phase of national action ... to contribute to the building of a democratic regime," he said.
Ennahda (Awakening) leader Rached Ghannouchi returned on January 30 after nearly 20 years in exile, mostly in London, to be welcomed by thousands of people.
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