Tunisia ends months of deadlock and approves Cabinet

Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh assembled a government of experts and outsiders

Tunisia's prime minister designate Elyes Fakhfakh speaks at the Assembly of People's Representatives in Tunis, Tunisia February 26, 2020. REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi
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After four months of wrangling among rival parties, Tunisia has a new government.

The Tunisian Parliament voted 129-77 with one abstention to approve the government of Prime Minister-designate Elyes Fakhfakh early on Thursday.

A previous attempt to form a government by a different prime minister failed last month.

The moderate Ennahda party has six ministerial posts, more than any other, because it came out on top in a parliamentary election in October.

But it did not win a majority and has struggled to reach compromise with other parties about who should run the government.

President Kais Saied had threatened to dissolve Parliament and call a new election if it couldn't agree on a new government.

Tunisian union and business leaders intervened, organising weeks of diplomacy in a bid to get rival parties to agree on a compromise solution.

Six of the 30 new government ministers are women, and for the first time one holds one of the most senior posts, Justice Minister Thouraya Jeribi.

Ennahda's rival, the secular Heart of Tunisia, did not back Mr Fakhfakh and has been excluded from the Cabinet.

“Ennahda likely decided that the costs of being blamed for government collapse outweighed the potential benefits of going towards new elections,” Eurasia Group, the New York risk consultancy, said after the party signalled its support last week.

“The final result is a broad-based national unity government” reflecting a “delicate balancing act".

Mr Fakhfakh's Cabinet includes former PriceWaterhouseCoopers associate Nizar Yaiche as Finance Minister, and Noureddine Erray, ambassador to Oman, in charge of foreign affairs.

The government is expected to take office on Friday.

Eurasia earlier described the situation as “a moderately positive outcome” for economic decision-making, with the Cabinet including “some competent technocrats".

But it warned “the government will likely be far from harmonious and its fractured support base will likely complicate and prolong negotiations over policy initiatives”.

Mr Fakhfakh said the government's focus will be on boosting the digital economy and tackling unemployment and violent extremism.

He also wants to battle widespread disillusionment nine years after Tunisian protesters overthrew their autocratic leader, built a new democracy and sparked the Arab uprisings.

"If we have made significant progress on the road to democratisation, we are still very far from social and economic transition," Mr Fakhfakh told politicians during the debate.

He noted that nearly 1 million young people, including more than 200,000 with university degrees, are unemployed, prompting many to leave the country, legally or illegally, to seek a better life.

"The 11 million Tunisians must get to work and roll up their sleeves to build the country," Mr Fakhfakh said.