Tunisia: consultations on form of government near completion

The media office of Tunisian Prime Minister-designate Elyes Fakhfakh announced today, Wednesday, that the consultations to form the government would be concluded on Friday.

The media office said that Fakhfakh will present the final outcome of his consultations with the parties to the President of the Republic on Friday evening.

Next, the parliament will be called for a plenary session to vote to give confidence to the proposed government.

It is unclear to this day which parties will formally join the government coalition, as the Islamic Ennahda Movement (with the majority of seats in parliament) demanded the formation of a government of national unity without exclusion, while Fakhfakh prefers to select specific parties.

President Kais Saied assigned Fakhfakh to form a new government on 20 January within one month, following the failure of Habib Al-Jamali’s government to gain parliament’s confidence.

The proposed government needs the support of a parliamentary majority to gain confidence, in order to avoid dissolving the current House of Representatives and holding early elections.

READ: Prime Minister designate fails to get support of Tunisia’s largest party