Tunisia politicians fail to broaden coalition

TUNIS: Tunisia’s ruling politicians have failed to bring more secular parties into a coalition government due to be formed by today to oversee elections in a transition process jolted by the assassination of a leftist politician.
Two secular parties, Democratic Alliance and Wafa, said yesterday they had decided to stay out of the next government to be led by the Ennahda party.
Under the constitution, Ennahda’s Ali Larayedh has until today to announce his ministerial line-up, 15 days after he was assigned by President Moncef Marzouki to form a government.
Larayedh had held consultations with five parties, but only Marzouki’s secular Congress for the Republic (CPR) has agreed to join his coalition, while the center-left Ettakatol party is still negotiating.
The same parties served in the last government led by Hamadi Jebali, who quit after his own Ennahda party rejected his plan for a technocrat cabinet to organize elections and calm unrest after the Feb. 6 killing of secular politician Chokri Belaid.
Larayedh was meeting representatives of the three parties on Thursday to seek agreement on who should head the Interior and Justice Ministries. Political sources said Ettakatol had rejected the prime minister-designate’s nominees for the posts.
“There is a large degree of agreement on the next government and we will continue today to discuss controversial subjects,” Larayedh said.
The political sources said Abdelhak Lassoued, an independent, would be defense minister, career diplomat Othman Jarandi would take over as foreign minister, while Ettakatol’s Elyess Fakhfakh would keep his job as finance minister.