The president of Tunisia, Kais Saied, on Monday said he would dissolve parliament and call for an early election if the new government fails to win a parliamentary vote of confidence, reported Reuters. He called the stalemate Tunisia’s worst political crisis since independence in 1956.
“I say it very clearly: if the government fails to win the confidence of parliament, the word will return to the people,” the president said.
Designated Prime Minister, Elyes Fakhfakh, proposed his new cabinet on Saturday. Later on, Mr. Fakhfakh said the negotiations on the name of the ministers would continue as the Islamist Ennahda Party rejected the proposed line-up. His cabinet nominee list included names of Nizar Yaiche as finance minister, Imed Hazgui as defense minister and Noureddine Erray as foreign affairs minister.
The moderate Islamist Ennahda party, which won 53 seats in the last election, said it would join a unity government that brings together parties from across Tunisia’s political spectrum.
“Ennahdha has decided not to take part in the government or in a vote of confidence,” said senior Ennahdha member Abdelkarim Harouni.
The second-biggest political party, Heart of Tunisia, which won 38 seats, also said it would not support the government after Fakhfakh excluded it from the coalition.
The designated prime minister has until Friday to form a cabinet and avoid his predecessor Mr. Habib Jemli’s fate. Jemli, who was nominated by Ennahda, failed to get his cabinet endorsed by parliament, giving Saied the chance to ask his own candidate, Fakhfakh, to form a cabinet.
As the proposed new government is already facing opposition from major political parties, Mr. Fakhfakh will have to face struggle to gain the strong parliamentary majority needed for any significant political programme.
Fakhfakh had previously vowed to nominate only those from parties he considered aligned with the goals of the revolution and committed to rooting out corruption from Tunisia.
