Tunisian opposition slams president’s initiative to form a new unity government

The Tunisian opposition on Wednesday described President Beji Caid Essebsi’s initiative to form a new national unity government “a failure of the ruling coalition”.

Spokesman for the Popular Front Hamma Hammami read the comments from a joint statement after a meeting held in the Tunis and attended by the Republican Party, the Social Democratic Path, Progressive People’s Party and charter parties.

Hammami said Essebsi has acknowledged the ruling coalition failure but has not explained the reasons behind it or who is responsible.

“The ruling coalition failure cannot be distributed to all parties,” he added.

The Tunisian president called a few days ago to form a new national unity government with the participation of political parties and trade unions. The priority of the new unity government should be the fight against terrorism, corruption and the consolidation of democracy, he said.

The opposition joint statement called for genuine dialogue to discuss the governance crises and ways to overcome them.