Tunisia: showdown between the new Prime Minister and the Ennahda party

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1 min

Tunisia faces a new challenge. Hichem Mechichi, the Prime Minister appointed three weeks ago, is struggling to form his government. Its consultations are proving difficult due to the political crisis in the country. Hichem Mechichi has therefore announced that he will henceforth conduct consultations to form a government, composed solely of “independent national competences”. The Islamist Ennahdha party refuses this choice and calls for respect for the results of the last legislative elections.

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Ennahdha is always opposed to any government composed of independent powers. For the Islamist party, it is compulsory to form a political government and to take into consideration the parliamentary balance and the results of the elections. Otherwise "  what are the elections for?"  Asked a party executive.

But the powerful UGTT, the Tunisian General Labor Union, as well as the Tunisian Union of Industry and Commerce, and other political parties such as the Destourien party approve the choice of the Prime Minister. Hichem Mechichi started a new concertation tour this Tuesday, August 11.

The government needs 109 votes to gain the confidence of Parliament. Ennahdha has 45 deputies out of the 217 in the Assembly. The previous prime minister, Habib Jemli, had failed in parliament. But this time around, if the confidence is not voted, Parliament will be dissolved, and Tunisia will head to new early elections.

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• Tunisia
• Ennahdha