Tunisian President's Party Postpones Withdrawal from Government

Tunisian President’s Party Postpones Withdrawal from Government

11 February 2013 5:23 pm | Amira Masrour |

Members of CPR speak to reporters Monday morning

President Moncef Marzouki’s Congress for the Republic party (CPR) announced it will postpone withdrawing its ministers from the current government by one week and outlined the terms of its continued participation in the ruling Troika coalition during a Monday press conference.

Around 100 Tunisian and international journalists attended the press conference at Hotel Africa following media reports over the weekend that CPR would leave the government.

Demands announced by CPR include the acceleration of the ongoing cabinet reshuffle; a commitment by the ruling Ennahdha party to change its politics and involve CPR in decision making and appointments; and the opening of files to document corruption both before and after the revolution.

If Ennahdha does not respond to CPR’s demands within one week, the party will withdraw the following ministers: Sihem Badi, minister of women’s affairs; Slim Ben Hmiden, minister of land and state property; and Abdelwahab Mattaar, minister of employment and vocational training.

Last week, the CPR National Council set a deadline of one week for Ennahdha to respond to the party’s demands. When that date came and Ennahdha had not acted, reports emerged Saturday that CPR would immediately withdraw from the government. But Ennahdha called an emergency meeting with CPR Sunday and promised the ruling party would respond to all demands within three days, according to Mohamed Abbou, secretary general of CPR.

These developments took place against the backdrop of an ongoing debate over Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali’s call last Wednesday to form a new government of technocrats following the assassination of opposition leader Chokri Belaid.

Abbou said CPR opposes Jebali’s initiative because the party worries the prime minister will appoint technocrats, who worked with the former political regime.

“Technocrats will not be efficient in dealing with Tunisia’s current problems,” Abbou said. “Ousted president Ben Ali used to work with technocrats and Beji Caid Essebsi as well, yet none of these political regimes succeeded in making reforms.”

“Creating a technocratic government will not be a magical solution to get over the country’s crisis,” he continued.

Meanwhile, members of the third branch of the Troïka, the Ettakatol party, told Tunisia Live Monday that they do not oppose Jebali’s plan.

“We are for the technocratic government, and we see that it is every patriot’s duty to support it as well,” said Mohamed Bennour, spokesperson of Ettakatol party. “We see in supporting this a way to reduce the political tension.”

Racha Haffar contributed reporting to this article.


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Comments (5)

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Jawed says:

12 February 2013 at 23:30

The reshuffle of the government will give the impression that it is possible to solve Tumisia’s serious economic, social, political and security challenges. Tunisia is in this dyre situation because of the incompetence of most its elected officials and the NCA’s inability to draft a new constitution on time and organize new general elections. October 23rd has long past and both the Troika and the NCA are governing on borrowed time. It’s highly unlikely that the current government will be able to improve the country’s worsening situation in the period between now and the upcoming general elections, making their reelection highly improbable. The Troika had its chance to prove itself worthy if the task of governing Tunisia, and it has failed miserably. Now it’s time to let the Tunisian people choose another group of leaders who will put the country’s interest first and work hard to bring the nation out of this deplorable state of affairs.

Reply
Patrick Batchelder says:

12 February 2013 at 06:10

What is a “technocrat?” Is it the same as a Civil Service structure where people are placed in position because of merit and not political views?

Reply
- aida says:
  
  12 February 2013 at 11:22
  
  yes exactly
  
  Reply
  - mark says:
    
    13 February 2013 at 21:33
    
    Technocrats are people who are funnelled through an ever-expanding system in which they are paid to sit around and think about things, observe things, and write things, but never actually do things. They are frequently totally disconnected from the people and processes they are supposed to rule. Their knowledge comes from sporadic meetings, usually with members of the regulated class who have been carefully selected as spokesmen. Not the best way to run a government that claims it represents the people.
    
    This system in Tunisia would be open to nepotism and corruption, so what safeguards would/could be in place to stop that from happening…its a nightmare to manage as they are not accountable they just bring solutions to the problems then everyone else has to implement. They are only knowledgeable within their own field so pays no attention as to how their solution fits in with the wider picture……
    
    Reply
    - zarta says:
      
      14 February 2013 at 05:18
      
      “Technocrats are people who are funnelled through an ever-expanding system in which they are paid to sit around and think about things, observe things, and write things, but never actually do things…”
      
      spoken like a man who knows!
      
      Where does this guy come from?…jumping around this website and throwing assertive pompous statements pulled out of his rear end with zero coherence, rationality nor context!
      
      would someone buys 2 pounds of horse meat and throw it on this guy’s face please.
      
      Reply

Tunisian President’s Party Postpones Withdrawal from Government

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