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News > Tunisia

Tunisian PM-Designate Presents Cabinet to President

  • Tunisian Prime minister designate Habib Jemli during a news conference in Tunis.

    Tunisian Prime minister designate Habib Jemli during a news conference in Tunis. | Photo: Reuters

Published 1 January 2020
Opinion

Last month the premier announced his government would be formed of technocrats independent from all political parties.

Tunisia's designated Prime Minister Habib Jemli presented Wednesday a proposed cabinet to President Kais Saied,  without publicly announcing the names of the ministers, according to a statement from the presidential office.

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"On Wednesday […] President Kais Saied received Habib Jemli, who is in charge of forming the government. Habib Jemli presented the lineup of the new government to the head of state", the statement said.

Last month Jemli said that his government would be formed of technocrats independent from all political parties. According to the TAP news agency, the premier said he finished Tuesday the composition of the cabinet, adding it will be put Thursday to parliament, where it has to obtain majority support.

The moderate Islamist Ennahda party nominated Jemli to form the government after it came first in the Oct. 6 election, winning 52 of the 218 seats.

Negotiations to build a ruling coalition capable of winning a vote of confidence have, however, proved difficult as the parliamentary election produced a deeply fractured parliament.

Jemli said at a news conference that his administration would center on the economy, a subject that has tormented all governments in Tunisia since its 2011 revolution and that is Tunisians’ top priority.

Unemployment in the North African country, 15 percent nationally and 30 percent in some cities, is higher than it was under the former autocrat, Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, who died earlier this year in exile in Saudi Arabia.

Inflation hit a record 7.8 percent last year and is still high at 6.8 percent. Frequent public sector strikes disrupt services. Financial inequality meanwhile divides Tunisians and the poverty of many areas has become an important political theme.

Difficult and crucial tasks await the next government which must bring its deficits and debt under control, as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and foreign lenders demand while raising at the same growth and delivering better public services.

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