New PM hopes to form “government of all Tunisians”

PanARMENIAN.Net - Tunisia’s Prime Minister-designate Ali Larayedh, a hard-liner from the main Islamist Ennahda party, said Friday, Feb 22, he hoped to form a “government of all Tunisians,” but opposition leaders swiftly signaled discontent, The Daily Star reported.

Tunisia plunged into political crisis on Feb. 6 when the assassination of secular opposition politician Chokri Belaid on Feb 6 ignited the biggest protests since the overthrow of strongman Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali two years ago.

President Moncef Marzouki asked Larayedh to draw up a government within two weeks after he was formally nominated for prime minister by Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi.

Larayedh “will have 15 days to form a new government and present its plan” to the head of state, Marzouki’s spokesman said, adding that the president urged him to do so “as quickly as possible because the country cannot wait any longer.”

“We will start consultations to form a new government ... a government of all Tunisians,” Larayedh said in remarks after meeting the secular president.

Larayedh also stressed equal gender representation in the new Cabinet.

“We are going to enter the phase of forming a new government that will be for all Tunisian men and women, taking into account the fact that men and women have equal rights and responsibilities,” he said.

He urged political parties, trade unions, businessmen and journalists to support his government to achieve the objectives of the North African country’s revolution and build democracy.

Outgoing Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, who resigned Tuesday, refused to head the next government after his own Ennahda party rejected his plan for an apolitical technocratic Cabinet to prepare for elections.