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Roundup: Tunisian parliament approves cabinet nominated by Essid

Xinhua, February 6, 2015 Adjust font size:

Members of the Tunisian Parliament approved the cabinet of Prime Minister Designate Habib Essid on Thursday during a plenary session held at the Parliament Headquarters in Bardo, Tunis.

166 parliament members supported Essid's cabinet, while 30 members rejected it and eight members abstained from voting.

The vote of confidence took place after Essid presented his cabinet to the Parliament on Wednesday. In his speech, Essid has additionally explained his governmental agenda for the next five years.

Following his speech, over 130 members of Parliament reacted to the cabinet composition and Essid's agenda.

Born in 1949, Essid is an economist who got his BA in economics in Tunis, followed by an engineering diploma from an American university. He has worked as an engineer before starting a career as a government official.

Essid has held several positions under the former regime of both presidents Habib Bourguiba and Zine al Abidine Ben Ali.

During that period, he worked within his field of expertise. After the popular uprisings of December 2010 and January 2011, Essid was assigned as a minister of interior under the transitional governemnt of Beji Caid Essebsi.

He was additionally assigned as an adviser within the government of the Islamist Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali.

After the Legislative and Presidential elections of 2014, Essid was chosen by President Essebsi in the beginning of January 2015 to nominate a cabinet that will lead the country for the next five years.

Essebsi's choice was welcomed by some, given Essid's expertise; and criticized by others as he worked under former regimes.

Two weeks after he was assigned with the mission to create a new cabinet, Essid announced the names included in his cabinet. The first suggested cabinet consisted in politically independent figures, and representatives of the Nidaa Tounes party (86 seats at the Parliament) and the Free Patriotic Party (UPL) only.

The Islamist party of Ennahdha, second important political power with 69 seats at the Parliament, was excluded from Essid's first list.

The exclusion has caused a wave of criticism against Essid. "We will not give Essid's government a vote of confidence. We have always called for national unity and consensus," stated Fathi Ayadi from Ennahdha's Shura council as a response to Essid's decision.

The controversy caused by the exclusion of Islamists from the cabinet, and the doubts over getting enough supporting votes at the Parliament in order to get approved, pushed Essid to delay the vote of confidence and introduce major changes to the suggested list of cabinet members.

On February 2, Essid announced a new list of cabinet members which included both Ennahdha and Afek Tounes parties, in addition to Nidaa Tounes and the UPL.

Leader of Ennahdha Party Rached Ghannouchi, considered the gesture a positive step towards broader consensus.

The Nidaa Tounes party got 6 ministries and 3 deputy ministers, while Ennahdha got one ministry: the ministry of employment, and 3 deputy ministers.

The Afek Tounes and UPL parties got 3 ministries each. The three main ministries: interior, justice, and defense will be run by politically independent figures.

Other compromises included changing some ministers such as former nominated minister of women affairs Khadija Cherif and minister of religious affairs.

As the suggested cabinet list became a broader and more representative selection, Ennahdha retracted their opposition to the first cabinet and announced that they will give a vote of confidence to Essid's cabinet.

However, the leftist Popular Front showed dissatisfaction and did not welcome Essid's government.

"Your cabinet is based on an alliance between the leftovers of the former regime and the leftovers of the former ruling Troika, which both failed," stated Mbarka Brahm from the Popular Front at the Parliament on Wednesday.

Despite the opposition of the Popular Front and the Congress for the Republic (CPR) Essid's cabinet succeeded in getting 166 votes in favor from the Parliament.

Essid is to be assigned an official Prime Minister on Friday, to succeed resigned Prime Minister Mehdi Jomaa, during an official ceremony at the headquarters of the Prime Ministry in Kasbah. Endit