Nearly a month has passed since Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi called for a national unity government involving all political parties across the country. No signs have yet materialized to suggest a consensual solution that satisfies all parties and embodies the president’s initiative.
Nearly a month has passed since Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi called for a national unity government involving all political parties across the country. No signs have yet materialized to suggest a consensual solution that satisfies all parties and embodies the president’s initiative.
Despite the consultations and negotiations among most of the concerned parties, no quick solution has been produced to activate this initiative. This prompted the Tunisian president to emphasize, during a meeting with a number of parties and labor organizations in Tunisia, the need to reach a compromise to form a new government before the ‘Eid-ul-Fitr’ holiday, beginning of July 2016 at the latest.
The president’s call to dissolve the present government and form a national unity government stems from the deteriorating economic conditions and the inability of the one-and-a half-year-old Essid government to solve many problems in most sectors, including the economic developmental or security sectors. That situation caused the dilapidating government to be the butt of serious criticism by most political parties, which agree that this government has miserably failed to wisely address the country’s crises.
Partisan or national interests?
Since the announcement of the presidential initiative, numerous consultation meetings have been held among the interested parties, especially the ruling coalition (Nidaa Tounes and Ennahda). Yet, these consultations have been mere attempts to test the waters and defend narrow partisan visions and ideas.
Consequently, these actions have not materialized into a consensus over a political figure that enjoys unanimity to replace Habib Essid as prime minister. Nidaa Tounes has come up with some proposals, most notably a proposal put forward by its spokesman, Abdelaziz Kotti, which talks about the need to assign a new head of government from the majority party that won in recent elections. Kotti said that “the government of technocrats has proved to be inefficient and has failed to resolve the intractable problems at all levels.”
Rachid Ghannouchi, head of Ennahda said it was necessary today to choose a national figure with considerable economic experience, as head of the new government, assisted by a new line-up of professionals, capable of achieving political stability and security, especially in the economic domain. This figure, Ghannouchi holds, is particularly important, given the exacerbating long-lasting economic crisis in Tunisia which no government has been able to overcome for several reasons.
On the other hand, some opposition parties, particularly the Popular Front, the largest opposition force in the Tunisian parliament, have declared that they would not participate in any coalition government. The Popular Front leader, Ziad Lakhdhar has announced that his movement is not interested in participating in the new government “because the real diagnosis of the current crisis in Tunisia and the deteriorating economic situation has not been effective, and has fallen short of identifying the real causes of the problems and those responsible for them. Therefore, it is pointless at this time to bring about a government change without changing the country’s general policies.”
Spokesman of the Popular Front, Hamma Hammami earlier supported Essebsi’s initiative to form a government of national unity, but had later declared that the Front refused to be a part of any new coalition government, which, he believed , aims to” distribute the failure over all other parties that have not participated in Habib Essid’s government.”
The Tunisian Union of Industry and Commerce (Employers’ Organization) and the General Union of Tunisian Workers, Tunisia’s most important labor organization, have refused to participate in any new national unity government. However, Houcine Abassi, Secretary General of the Tunisian General Labour Union, declared readiness to support any national initiative aimed to achieve reform and address the current crisis.
Several scenarios
Numerous consultations and repeated visits to the presidential palace in Carthage over the past few days have not produced any accord. On the other hand, prime minster, Habib Essid declared that he would not resign, to avoid any political vacuum in the country. However, due to pressures by Nidaa Tounes MPs and their warning that Essid’s insistence to stay in power would worsen the situations, Essid backed away on his commitment.
A possible scenario in the coming days is to assign a prominent political or economic figure to head the new government proposed by the president. Several names have been leaked, including the former governor of Tunisian Central Bank, Mustapha Kamel Nabli who is believed to be a candidate of Nidaa Tounes. Other names have also been revealed, including Slim Chaker, the current Minister of Finance, given that the main reason for the stifling crisis in Tunisia is mainly economic, which requires that an economic expert should head the new government.
Other names affiliated to Ennahda movement, like the present Central Bank governor, Chedli Ayari, have also emerged, especially after Ennahda leader, Rachid Ghannouchi said he would support “an economist” to lead the government and carry out major financial and economic reforms to save the country.
Although the presidency has recently denied the news about all potential candidates to head the upcoming national unity government, the discourse that has arisen lately over this issue makes all these scenarios possible.
