Tunisia’s Ennahda placed tackling corruption and poverty at the heart of its plans on Friday after confirming it had started talks to try to form a government following inconclusive elections in October.
The moderate Islamists, who secured the highest share of the vote but fell well short of a majority in October 6 national polls, said they were talking to parties including the secular Democratic Current and the leftist People’s Movement but declined to give further details.
Talks are also understood to be under way with the l’Union populaire Républicaine and the unambiguously Islamist Al Karama coalition.
Ennahda gained 52 seats during October’s vote, far short of the 109 seats it needs to command a majority within the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Representatives of the People..
Ennahda will have one month to form a government after being officially asked to do so by the newly elected president, former law professor Kais Saied.
If Ennahda is unable to form a government within that time, the party has the option to request another month's extension before the task falls to the president.
Should President Saied also prove unable to form a government, the country will be forced to return to the polls.
Complicating matters is Ennahda’s refusal to consider an alliance with either the second-placed party, Qalb Tounes, (Heart of Tunisia), who gained 38 seats, or the Free Destourian Party, who gained 17 seats, widely regarded as apologists for the regime of former autocrat Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who was ousted during the country’s landmark 2011 revolution.
Acrimony between Ennahda and Qalb Tounes was evident throughout the campaign.
Qalb Tounes leader Nabil Karoui, the presidential run-off candidate who spent the bulk of the electoral period in jail on corruption charges, blamed Ennahda for both his detention as well as many of the long-term challenges, such as rural poverty, that continue to blight Tunisia.
Ennahda, who have served in every post-revolutionary government, in turn point to the numerous corruption allegations against Mr Karoui, which they say would run counter to their efforts to fight the graft many see as having become endemic in Tunisian public life.
The minister of higher education and research, Dr Khalil Amiri told reporters that the party was focused on tackling corruption and poverty and building the economy. Corruption, unemployment, rural poverty and a failing economy all featured prominently in parliament and presidential election campaigns.
Little progress has been made in tackling corruption and improving the plight of the country’s long-term unemployed since the revolution they first helped spark.
Disillusionment with the country’s political classes remains widespread with turnout at national elections only 42 per cent.
