Marzouki holds crisis talks over new PM
2013-02-20 14:51
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Tunis - President Moncef Marzouki was holding urgent talks
on Wednesday with political leaders in a bid to steer Tunisia out of a weeks-long
crisis exacerbated by the resignation of Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali.
Marzouki was meeting in the morning with leader of the
Islamist ruling Ennahda party, Rached Ghannouchi, and later with Maya Jribi of
the opposition Republican party, his office said.
Tunisia was plunged into its worst political crisis since
the 2011 Arab Spring revolt that ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali when
leftist politician Chokri Belaid was shot dead outside his home in Tunis on
February 6.
Though no one claimed responsibility, Belaid's family
accused Ennahda of being behind the killing, which the party vehemently denied.
The killing did little to ease the misgivings of liberals
and secularists who believe Ennahda is failing to rein in religious extremists
threatening the stability of the country.
Belaid's murder also sparked deadly street protests as well
as strikes, which Jebali attempted to defuse by announcing plans for a
non-partisan cabinet of technocrats to lead Tunisia into early elections.
The proposal quickly foundered and Jebali received a final
rebuff by his own Ennahda party on Monday, prompting him the following day to
carry out his threat to resign if he failed to win sufficient support.
New elections
Late on Tuesday he announced the resignation, saying he had
failed in a last-ditch effort to push for "another solution" to the
long-running crisis in a meeting with Marzouki.
Ghannouchi, whose Ennahda party dominates the national
assembly, will be asked by Marzouki to nominate a new prime minister. Names
being mentioned are those of Health Minister Abdelatif Mekki and Justice
Minister Noureddine Bhiri.
Jribi's opposition Republican party, meanwhile, has in
recent days made it clear it is ready to support a cabinet comprising a mix of
politicians and technocrats.
The 63-year-old Jebali had said he was convinced a
non-political team was "the best way to save the country from wandering
off track".
Analysts said it is possible Marzouki will ask Jebali to try
again to form a government.
But Jebali said he would not sign on again with "any
initiative that does not fix a date for new elections. What about the
constitution? What about elections?"
As well as the row over the new government, there is
deadlock over the drafting of a constitution, with parliament divided over the
nature of Tunisia's future political system 15 months after it was elected.
The prospect of Jebali carrying on is "on the table,
but we still have to discuss it, and there are several competent people in the
event he refuses," said Ennahda parliamentary bloc chief Sahbi Attig.
Political deadlock
Jebali's plans had been bitterly opposed by Ennahda
hardliners, represented by Ghannouchi, who refused to give up key portfolios
and insist on Ennahda's electoral legitimacy.
The Islamists control the interior, foreign and justice
ministries and dominate the national assembly.
The political deadlock has left the country paralysed.
"Everything has stopped. The problem is that nobody
thinks about the general interest but only of their special interests," a
government official told AFP.
Since the revolution, Tunisia has also been rocked by
violence blamed on radical Salafists, and ongoing social unrest over the
government's failure to improve poor living conditions.
