Candidate for Prime Minister's job in Tunisia steps forward

The Secretary General of Tunisia’s Renaissance Party has confirmed that he will be the party’s candidate for Prime Minister. Hamadi Jebali told media sources that this is “a self-evident conclusion” because “the leader of the party winning a majority in all democracies heads the government”.

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The Renaissance party (also known as Ennahda or Al-Nahda) will also have candidates standing for the presidency, said Jebali. These will be suggested to the other groups in the Constituent Assembly. According to an official from the Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties bloc, Mustapha Ben Jaafar, and the President of Congress for the Republic, Almonsef Marzouqi, it is likely that the Prime Minister of the transitional government, Al Haji Ka’ed Elsebsy, will be put forward for the presidential role.

Jebali believes that the scale of his party’s victory is not reflected in the number of seats it has in the new Assembly. This is due to the system of proportional representation adopted in Tunisia to ensure that one party cannot dominate entirely the country’s political chambers.