Tunisian President Qais Saeed, on the evening of yesterday, tasked the Minister of Interior of the caretaker government, Hicham Mechishi, to form a new government, on a mission that he must accomplish within a month in a tense political climate.
According to a video released by the official website of the Presidency of the Republic, Saeed Lashishi said that “after looking and going deep and reading all the situations, I instructed you today according to Chapter 89 of the Constitution, and after conducting the consultations, as stipulated in that chapter, by forming the government.”
"The President of the Republic honored me by entrusting me with the formation of a government, which I trust and cherish and thank him for," Mishishi said in a statement published by the Presidency of the Republic. He added, "This trust is a huge responsibility and a great challenge, especially in the situation our country is going through."
"I will work hard, God willing, to form a government that responds to the aspirations of all Tunisians, and works to respond to their legitimate long-awaited entitlements for these years," he added.
Machici, the 46-year-old lawyer, will succeed Prime Minister Elias Fakhkakh, who resigned earlier this month.
However, Mechishi was not one of the names I proposed to the president, who was the Tunisian party in power.
Mishishi is the Minister of Interior of the caretaker government, and he also served as Senior Adviser to President Saeed for Legal Affairs.
Machici was also the head of the Bureau in the ministries of Transport, Social Affairs and Health.
Now, Mishishi has a month to form a government in an atmosphere of political tensions between the main parties. He will then have to gain the confidence of Parliament in an absolute majority, and if he fails to do so, Parliament will be dissolved and new elections organized within three months.
During the last elections in October, Al-Nahda was dissolved first, but it failed to obtain a majority, as it won 54 out of 217 seats, and eventually agreed to join a coalition government.
Mitchici’s mandate to form the government comes on the day when Tunisia celebrates the 63rd anniversary of the Republic’s declaration, in which the monarchy and the Republican Order were declared abolished in 1957.
This day also marks the first anniversary of the death of former President Beji Kaid Essebsi, the first Tunisian president elected by direct universal suffrage in 2014, who died months before the end of his term at the age of 92.
The Designated Prime Minister faces the difficult task of mobilizing a majority in a deeply divided parliament.
On Monday, Saeed warned of "chaos" in parliament, and of "obstructing the functioning of a constitutional institution."