New Tunisian PM will be from Ennahda

A senior Tunisian official has said that Hamadi Jebali of the Islamic Ennahda party is set to become the next prime minister of the country, under a deal struck between the three main Tunisian parties.

However, the deal between the three parties is subject to the approval of the constituent assembly, which will hold its first meeting on Tuesday.

Abdelwaheb Matar of the Congress for the Republic party said in Tunis on Friday that the three parties had also agreed that veteran rights activist and opposition politician Moncef Marzouki of the Congress for the Republic would become the president, AFP reported.

In October, the Islamic Ennahda party won 89 seats of a 217-strong constituent assembly in the first democratic elections after the ouster of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in January. The constituent assembly is expected to draw up a new constitution and appoint the caretaker government until the country calls a general election.

Ennahda put forward Jebali for the post of prime minister as it went into talks with the Congress for the Republic, which won 29 seats, and the centre-right party Ettakatol, which won 21.

Matar said the three parties also agreed that Mustapha Ben Jaafar of Ettakatol would be appointed to the post of president of the constituent assembly.