Tunisian President asks Interior Minister to form government

Tunisian President Kaïes Said on Saturday night entrusted the formation of a new government to acting Interior Minister Hichem Mechichi, a man he trusts to try to get the country out of the acute economic and social crisis it is suffering, aggravated in recent weeks by the dispute in the fragile government coalition.

A 46-year-old lawyer, Mechichi, who was the president's own legal adviser, began his political career at the social affairs ministry and was chief of staff at the transport ministry before joining the executive of his predecessor Elyes Fakhfakh, who resigned on 15 July after being accused of corruption for failing to declare his shareholding in state-owned companies.

Fakhfakh resigned against his will under pressure from the president after Ennahda announced that he had the necessary votes to file a motion of censure against his partner, which would have given him the right to appoint the replacement.

A graduate in political science, Mechichi also held another senior position in the Ministry of Health and headed the National Agency for Health and Environmental Control of Products (ANCSEP).

Considered an independent, he was chosen among some fifteen candidates proposed by the different political parties, among them the former Minister of Finance Mohamed Fadhel Abdelkefi and the financial analyst Khayem Turki, both from the well-liked conservative Islamist party Ennahda, the first force in Parliament, and the populist "Heart of Tunisia", the first opposition party that Islamists have courted in recent months.

Mechichi is the third politician appointed to form a government since the November 2019 elections, after Ennahda's candidate Habib Jemli, who failed to achieve an absolute majority in parliament, and Fakhfakh himself, confirmed in January after two months of tough and intense negotiations.

The candidate now has 30 days - renewable for a further month - to form his own cabinet and secure the 109 supports he needs in the Assembly.

If he fails, the Tunisian president has the power to dissolve the chamber and call elections, which would be the second in just one year.