Ghannoushi prefers contesting election within a coalition

Rachid Ghannoushi, the head of Tunisia’s ruling Al-Nahda Party, has said that his movement has not yet decided whether it will run in the upcoming elections on its own or within a coalition, his personal preference, he noted, is to be part of a coalition.

In an interview with the Anadol news agency, Ghannoushi said, “We are in an ongoing dialogue with the purpose of reaching an agreement within the troika [the current three-party ruling coalition] and outside it; but we do not want to have a monopoly over the situation.”

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Last week, the coalition called for the next parliamentary and presidential elections to be held on the same day on 23 June next year. Unions and some opposition parties have objected to that date because it coincides with final school and university exams in Tunis.

The people of Tunisia will be asked to elect a new president and parliament to replace the constituent assembly, which was elected in October 2011. The current government, headed by Hamid Al-Gebaly, was approved by the assembly. The three parties represented within the government are the Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberty, the Congress for the Republic, and Al-Nahda.