Tunisia ruling party, opposition name new premier

Tunisia’s ruling party and opposition coalition have appointed Industry Minister Mehdi Jomaa as prime minister for a caretaker administration of technocrats until elections next year, mediators say.

Tunisia’s influential General Labor Union – known by its French acronym UGTT — which has been mediating between the Islamic Ennahda party and the National Salvation Front for several weeks, made the announcement on Saturday.

“Dialog and discussions led to a vote and the choice of Mehdi Jomaa as the candidate for the post of head of government,” said UGTT Secretary General Houcine Abassi.

“Our people have waited for a long time, but despite the difficulties and obstacles … this dialog has not failed,” he said, adding his “congratulations to Tunisia.”

The 50-year-old will head the non-partisan cabinet that will govern until elections expected in early 2014.

The UGTT had set a deadline of December 14 for the two sides to pick a prime minister for a caretaker administration to govern until new elections.

In September, Ennahda and the National Salvation Front agreed to begin talks on the transition plan.

On September 20, the ruling party announced that it had accepted the roadmap proposed by the mediators to end the North African country’s political stalemate that started after the assassination of an opposition politician in July.

“Ennahda announces after examining the proposal … its acceptance and demands that a serious national dialog is launched to get the country out of the political crisis,” the party said in a statement.

Issam Chebbi, a senior official in the National Salvation Front, said that the opposition decided to accept “without any conditions” the transition plan drafted by the UGTT.

The July 25 murder of Mohamed Brahmi, the second such assassination in six months, created the crisis in Tunisia with the National Salvation Front blaming the government for failing to maintain security and tolerating the militants it accused of the killing.

The opposition has been staging large demonstrations, demanding the resignation of the government, a new administration of technocrats and new elections.

Brahmi, who was a member of the Popular Front party, held a seat in the Constituent Assembly tasked with writing a new constitution following the 2011 revolution.

The assassination of leftist opposition figure Chokri Belaid outside his home in the capital in February triggered violent demonstrations across the country, with the headquarters of the Ennahda party being attacked in more than a dozen cities.

Tunisia, the birthplace of pro-democracy protests across North Africa and the Middle East, is struggling with a democratic changeover after the overthrow of its Western-backed dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.