The new Tunisian parliament elected President of the Ennahda Movement Rashid Ghannouchi as its president in his first plenary session, during which the deputies were sworn in.
This meeting came amid tensions between the parties on the back of their failure to reach a consensus on the presidency of parliament and the formation of the government.
The Shura Council earlier announced the nomination of party leader Rashid Ghannouchi to the presidency of the parliament, while the Democratic Movement and the People's Movement announced the submission of Gawi Chaouachi joint candidate.
Last month 's elections, in which the Islamist movement Ennahda came first with only 52 seats out of a total of 217, produced a sharply divided parliament, complicating the situation and requiring coalitions to form a government.
The head of parliament was Nahdha Ghannouchi, leader of the Ennahda Party, Ghazi Chaouachi, a leader of the current party, and Abeer Moussa, a supporter of the regime of former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
Among the candidates were Munji Marzouq, 58, who served as Minister of Information and Communication Technologies in the governments of Hammadi Jebali (2012), Ali Al-Aridh (2013) and Habib Asid (2016).
Tawfiq al-Rajhi, 59, who has been prime minister in charge of major reforms since 2016, was also nominated by Fadhil Abdul Kafi, 49, who served as Minister of Development and Investment in Youssef Chahed's government (August 2016) and economist Habib Crowley. .
Other candidates include Marwan Abbassi, 60, who has been governor of the Central Bank of Tunisia since February 2018, and Elias Ffakhakh, 47, who served as minister of tourism and finance in the governments of Hammadi Jebali (2012) and Ali Arrayed (2013).