Political bickering stalls Tunisian national dialogue
A number of political leaders are calling for the formation of a national salvation government in Tunisia after several successive governments have failed to solve the economic crisis.
TUNIS — A government of national salvation is more than necessary in Tunisia amid the disruption of political dialogue among the ruling political elite, Lotfi Mraihi, head of the People's Republican Union Party, said March 28 in Gabes, southeast Tunisia, during a media briefing organized by his party.
Mraihi, whose party holds three out of 217 parliament seats, spoke against a backdrop of raging conflicts between the three top Tunisian leaders: President Kais Saied, Parliament Speaker Rachid Ghannouchi and Prime Minister Hisham Mechichi.
Tunisia's new cabinet has yet to be sworn in. A cabinet reshuffle in 11 of the 25 ministries was approved by an absolute parliamentary majority on Jan. 24 but in a first in the history of Tunisian politics, Saied refused to invite four out of the 11 newly appointed ministers to take the oath of office. The president rejected the four ministers proposed by Mechichi over suspicions of corruption and conflicts of interest.
Mraihi noted in the March 28 press briefing that Tunisia cannot afford stalling further, saying that political movements have the right to disagree, but the current level of hostility of verbal and physical violence is unacceptable.
