TUNIS — The national unity government in Tunisia threatens to collapse amid dwindling political support, with the Republican Party, the Afek Tounes Party and the Machrou Tounes movement backtracking on the Carthage Document Jan. 18. This document was the basis upon which the national unity government, headed by Youssef Chahed, was formed. Meanwhile, the Free Patriotic Union, which had previously withdrawn from the document, has now decided to renew its support for it.

The Carthage Document is an agreement over the priorities of the government signed in July 2016 by the state-affiliated Tunisian General Labor Union (a trade union); the Tunisian Union of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA); the independent Federation of Farmers and several political parties, notably Ennahda, Nidaa Tunis, the Machrou Tounes Movement, the Free Patriotic Union, Afek Tounes, the Republican Party, the Social Democratic Path, the People's Movement and the National Destourian Initiative.

According to the document, the priorities of the national unity government are “winning the war on terror, accelerating growth, creating job opportunities, combating corruption, establishing good governance, setting urban and communal policies, supporting governmental effectiveness and completing the centralization of institutions.”

Mohsen Marzouq, the secretary-general of Machrou Tounes, told Al-Monitor, “Both the path of national unity and the Carthage Document are lost. The government of Ennahda and Nidaa Tunis is failing to provide solutions to the country.” He stressed, “The national unity government has only a few days left, and we shall not be in alliance with it ever again.”