Tunisia: Ennahda starts negotiations to establish new government

The Shura Council of Tunisia’s Ennahda Movement has entrusted its leader, Rached Ghannouchi, to initiate negotiations with the President of the Republic and political and social forces to begin negotiations to form a new government.

The decision was taken by a plurality of votes in the Shura Council, as 54 members voted in favour of the creation of a new government, while 38 voted against it and in support of the continuation of the current government, under the pretext of stability.

On 20 January, President Qais Saeid ordered the former finance minister and the leader of the Democratic Forum for Labour and Liberties (Ettakatol) to form a new government as the parliament refused to grant its trust to Habib Al-Jamali’s government proposed by the Ennahda movement.

In a statement to the official news agency, the spokesman for Ennahda movement, Imad Al- Khemiri, said that the establishment of a new government would put an end to the current political crisis in the country, given the current political and economic conditions and the case of conflict of interest in which the prime minister is involved.

READ: 4 Tunisia parliamentary blocs launch initiative to withdraw confidence from Ghannouchi