Tunisia’s newly appointed Prime Minister Habib Jemli submitted the names of the cabinet ministers to President Kais Saied on Wednesday, reported Reuters. The names will be made public on Thursday.
“The names of the government ministers will be announced to the public on Thursday,” Jemli said during a press conference in the capital city of Tunis.
He simply indicated that he would have 40 percent of women and more young members in his cabinet.
The new government will be put to parliament for a vote of confidence on Thursday, where it will require majority support before taking office. It will need a majority of 109 votes out of 217 possible votes.
The moderate Islamist Ennahda party nominated Jemli to form a government after it came first in the Oct election, winning 52 of the 218 seats. President Saied then formally requested Jemli to build a coalition able to command a majority in parliament.
Last month, Jemli announced that he would form a government of independent ministers who do not represent political parties. The announcement was made after the discussion on the new government with various political parties came to a dead end.
The October election resulted in a deeply fractured parliament in which no party took more than a quarter of the seats, leading to hard negotiations to build a coalition that could pass a confidence vote.
Although Jemli failed to bring rival parties together, he said on Wednesday that all parties would support the new government “one way or another”, without giving specifics.
The new prime minister said his government would focus on improving the economy, an issue that has bedeviled all the governments in Tunisia since its 2011 revolution that introduced democracy. President Saied has also ordered action against state corruption but he has little direct control over policy except in matters of foreign affairs and security.
