Tunisian prime minister to resign if new cabinet bid fails

Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali says he will step down in case he fails to form a new government within days.

“I will present the team no later than the middle of next week,” Jebali said on Saturday.

“If it is accepted… I will continue to carry out my duties as head of the government. Otherwise, I will ask the president of the republic to find another candidate to form a new government,” the premier added.

Jebali made the remarks after Tunisia’s ruling party, Ennahda, rejected the prime minister’s bid to dissolve the cabinet and form a new government of technocrats on February 7, 2013.

The Tunisian premier further announced that the cabinet’s key ministries, currently held by members of Ennahda, would be assigned to independents in his planned new government of non-partisan technocrats.

“All the ministries will be independent, including the interior, justice and foreign affairs ministries,” Jebali said.

The Tunisian premier stated that he had to take the decision without consulting the political parties, “fearing that the country would slide into chaos.”

Earlier in the day, supporters of the Ennahda party staged an anti-France demonstration in Tunis and backed the ‘legitimacy’ of the current government.

The Ennahda party had called for the gathering to fight against the political violence it said the opposition is using.

On Friday, hundreds of thousands anti-government protesters took to the streets of the Tunisian capital for the funeral of the slain opposition figure, Shokri Belaid’s assassination on February 6 has dragged the North African nation into a political crisis.

Protests erupted across the nation and the headquarters of the Ennahda party were attacked in more than a dozen cities.