Major party withdraws govt support

TUNIS: Tunisia’s moderate Islamist party Ennahda, the biggest party in the parliament, decided yesterday to withdraw confidence from the government, a senior official in Ennahda says.

Ennahda’s move will deepen the political crisis engulfing Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfkah, whom Ennahda says has lost credibility due to an alleged conflict of interest.

Ennahda with 54 lawmakers needs 109 votes in parliament to withdraw confidence and will seek support for the motion from its two allies, the Karama and Heart of Tunisia parties.

Mr Fakhfakh said on Monday he will conduct a cabinet reshuffle in the coming days in what appears to be a step to remove Ennahda’s six ministers from the government.

But Ennahda’s response came quickly and could make the Fakhfkah cabinet just formed in February the first government not to last six months in the North African country.

“We adopted the option to withdraw confidence from the prime minister and mandates the party leader to follow up on the implementation of the decision’”, said Ennahda official Imed Khmiri.

An independent member of parliament published documents last month indicating that the prime minister owns shares in companies that had won deals worth 44 million dinars (472 million baht) from the state.

Mr Fakhfakh has denied he did anything improper or corrupt. He has promised to step down if investigators find wrongdoing. Tunisia is struggling to revive its collapsed economy since 2011 revolution that ended the rule of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and sparked the Arab Spring.