TUNIS // Tunisia’s ruling Islamist party announced on Friday it has accepted an ambitious roadmap proposed by mediators to form a government of technocrats and resolve a two-month-old political crisis.
“Ennahda announces after examining the proposal... its acceptance and demands that a serious national dialogue is launched to get the country out of the political crisis,” the party said.
The opposition has yet to declare its position on the initiative, drawn up by Tunisia’s powerful UGTT labour union and presented on Tuesday, which envisages a tight timetable for the formation of a new cabinet, the adoption of a draft constitution and fresh elections.
Tunisia’s political crisis was triggered by the July 25 assassination of opposition MP Mohamed Brahmi, an attack that was blamed on militant Salafis and sparked opposition calls for the government’s immediate resignation.
The roadmap, prepared along with other mediating groups, requires the two sides to meet for talks attended by the president Moncef Marzouki and the prime minister Ali Larayedh, where the Islamist-led government will formally agree to its replacement within three weeks by a cabinet of independents.
At the same time, it requires the National Constituent Assembly (NCA) to approve an electoral law and commission, draw up the timetable for the parliamentary poll and adopt a new constitution whose drafting has been blocked for months by political wrangling.
* Agence France-Presse
