After four months of tough negotiations, the showdown ended in Tunisia. The Islamist-inspired party Ennahdha, the majority in Parliament, agreed on Wednesday, February 19, to participate in the government formed by Prime Minister-designate Elyes Fakhfakh. "We will support" this executive during the confidence vote, said the movement in a statement. This support opens the way to its approval by Parliament in the days to come. After the failure of a first government in January, a new rejection could result in the dissolution of the assembly elected four months ago, and early elections.

The amended government, obtained after intense negotiations with Ennahdha, includes 32 ministers, including seven belonging to the Islamist party. He entrusted the royal ministries to personalities having no direct link with parties.

The government "brings together all political families," party officials and independent figures, "said Fakhfakh, former finance minister, in a television statement after presenting his list to President Kais Saied on Wednesday." the period of consultations, despite its difficulties and its complexity, took place in a completely democratic way ", he underlined.

The coveted Ministries of Justice and the Interior were entrusted respectively to a judge presented as independent, Thouraya Jeribi, and to a former ministerial official who had just been appointed legal adviser to the presidency, Hichem Mechichi. Defense goes to the former head of the National Access to Information Authority (INAI), Imed Hazgui, and Foreign Affairs to a former ambassador to Oman, Noureddine Erraï.

The need to obtain 109 votes out of 217 in the Assembly

The Ennahdha movement had rejected at the last moment a first list presented on Saturday evening. If the party has an additional minister compared to the initial list, it justified its decision by the need to take "into consideration" the socio-economic and security difficulties of Tunisia, requiring to form a government quickly.

Even if it did not obtain the formation of a government of national unity including the second party of the Parliament, Qalb Tounès, the movement nevertheless considered that the modifications of the cabinet make it "more efficient and more balanced".

The office of the Parliament must fix within a few days a date for the vote of confidence. The new government must obtain 109 votes out of 217, which requires important negotiations given the fragmentation of the Assembly, where Ennahdha has only 54 seats.

President Kais Saied, who found himself at the center of the political game after the failure of a first cabinet formed under the leadership of Ennahdha, insisted that failing approval of the executive presented by the Prime Minister which he has appointed, he will dissolve the Assembly. It can do so from March 15, if no government has been validated by then.

Tunisia is the only country shaken by the uprisings of the Arab Spring in 2011 to continue on the path of democratization.

With AFP

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