Ennahdha to file a motion of censure that could topple Tunisian government

The Islamist-leaning conservative Ennahdha party, the leading force in parliament, will submit a motion of censure against the prime minister and his partner in government, Elyes Fakhfakh, who have been questioned for weeks for failing to declare their shareholdings in private companies contracted by the administration. The decision, which could bring the executive down, was taken on Sunday by the Shura Council, the movement's highest governing body, which authorised its leader, Rachid Ghannouchi, to initiate the procedure in the House of Representatives. 

For the initiative to succeed, the Islamist group, which leads the 54-seat assembly, will need other parties' support, including the Heart of Tunisia party, led by controversial communications magnate Nabil Karoui, the second-largest force in the House of Representatives, and the Salafist-leaning Dignity Coalition.  

According to the law, the censure motion requires the favourable vote of 109 of the 217 deputies in the Assembly and obliges the party or parties presenting it to propose an alternative candidate for the head of government, who will also need to be accepted by an absolute majority. 

However, if Fakhfakh were to resign, which implies the resignation of the entire Executive, it would be the President of the Republic, Kaies Said, who would have to appoint a replacement and also obtain major support in a very fragmented House, with some twenty parties represented and many independents, each with its own agenda. 

The complaint against Fakhfakh, upheld by the National Instance for the Fight Against Corruption (INLUCC) and for which the prime minister pleads not guilty, is the latest blow to a weak government coalition forged in February under the threat to repeat the elections, after four months of complex and failed negotiations.  

Ennahdha, who failed in the first attempt, finally accepted to govern together with five formations of very different political tendencies: the social democrat Attayar, the pan-Arabist Echaab, the former governor Nidaa Tounes and the parties of the former prime ministers, Mehdi Jomaa (Al Badil) and Youssef Chahed, (Viva Tunis). From the beginning the Islamists wanted to add the Heart of Tunisia, second force with 39 deputies, a desire the current head of government declared a "red line".  

The Shura Council's decision comes just hours after a bloc of 75 MPs revealed their intention to also table a motion of censure to withdraw confidence from Ghannouchi, the current President of Parliament, for allegedly violating the House's rules of procedure.  

And days after the Free Desturian Party (PDL), formed by those nostalgic for the former dictatorial regime of Zinedin el Abedin Ben Ali, overthrown in 2011, accused Ennahda of having falsified documents for legalisation, an alleged crime which if true would take the formation back to the times of clandestinity in which it lived for three decades. 

According to lawyer Abir Moussi, who is leading a group of 16 MPs, the file was signed two days before the return of Ghannouchi, who lived as a refugee in London until the triumph of the revolution which put an end to the tyranny and marked the beginning of the now withered Arab springs.   

Since taking his seat, Moussi has repeated his attacks on both the Islamist leader and Ennahdha party, though without success: first by accusing him of diplomatic interference in the Libyan conflict, and later by proposing a motion to classify the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization - whose political arm in Tunisia, he claims, is represented by Ennahdha.