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TUNISIA-POLITICS
Tunisia lawmakers approve new government
TUNIS, Sept 2, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Tunisia’s parliament approved the country’s
third government in less than a year on Wednesday, overcoming discontent
among lawmakers incensed by how the administration was formed and averting
the threat of disruptive early elections.
Former interior minister Hichem Mechichi was confirmed as premier after
his cabinet, dominated by independent technocrats, secured support from
nearly two-thirds of the chamber’s deputies overnight.
The 46-year-old has pledged to revitalise a tourism-reliant economy that
has been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic and said after the vote that
his government would be able to “move forward” provided it was not bogged
down in political tensions.
Tunisia’s parliament is deeply divided and many lawmakers were angry that
Mechichi bypassed the major political factions in building his cabinet.
But the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha party, the biggest bloc in parliament,
said hours before the vote that it would back Mechichi “despite
reservations”.
Political scientist Chokri Bahria, from the think tank Jossour, said
Mechichi would be able to lead a government with “a support base that should
allow it a few months of stability”.
Tunisia has been praised as a rare success story for the Arab Spring
uprisings that swept the region in 2011, bringing down its long-time
president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
But it is now mired in social and economic crisis, with the official
unemployment rate at 18 percent, and in need of new assistance from the
International Monetary Fund.
Mechichi, a lawyer by training, named judges, academics, public servants
and business executives to his cabinet.
Ennahdha and others had instead demanded a “political” government that
reflects the balance of parties and factions in parliament.
The chairman of Ennahdha’s advisory board, Abdelkarim Harouni, said the
party would back Mechichi “given the difficult situation of the country” but
would then seek to “develop and reform this government”.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1053 hrs