Tunisia's new government won't include Ennahda

Tunisia’s Islamist Ennahda movement, which holds the second most parliament seats, will not participate in the new government, a source from majority-holding Nidaa Tounis Party said Thursday.

“The new government will include national figures backed by some parties and it won’t include any ministers from Ennahda,” the source, requesting anonymity, told Anadolu Agency.

Observers say that there have been wide rejections within the centrist Nidaa Tounis Party regarding the inclusion of Ennahda in the upcoming cabinet.

Another source from Nidaa Tounis had said that the upcoming prime minister will not be a party member, describing the decision as a “message” from newly-inaugurated President Beji Caid Essebsi, who had resigned from his party leadership after his swearing-in on Wednesday.

The Tunisian presidency had said that Essebsi formally asked party leader and Parliament Speaker Mohamed al-Nasser to nominate a candidate for prime minister.

The Nidaa Tounis Party, which describes itself as centrist, secured the most seats by a single party, clinching 86 seats in late October’s parliamentary election, while the Ennahda movement garnered 69 seats.