Tunisia paralysed as president, prime minister jostle for control

Bitter political stand-off adversely affects Tunisia’s much-needed reform drive, economy

ANALYSIS gamble and resort to Article 99 of the constitution, promulgated in 2014, to oust the government and defuse the crisis to his advantage.

Under the article, the president may ask the parliament to conduct a vote of confidence in the government on a maximum of two occasions during the entire presidential term.

If the government fails to win the confidence of the lawmakers, it resigns. However, if the government wins the vote of confidence on the two occasions, the president resigns.

The political crisis has simmered in Tunisia since Chahed, 43 — who was appointed prime minister in August 2016 and his government was approved by the parliament with 167 out of 194 votes — refused to step down.

After weeks of general support for the government and the prime minister, an internal crisis broke out within the Nida Tunis party that led to deep divisions over support for Chahed or Hafedh Al Sebsi.

The party power struggle soon widened, and several others joined the fray. While Al Nahda, the co-ruler in the country, supported Chahed, the opposition parties called for his removal.

The situation was compounded when in July, President Al Sebsi called publicly for the government to resign.

Struggle

“We have reached the point where we must say we are going from bad to worse and this must be stopped. No government can succeed in responding to the demands of the people if it has no political scope and cannot achieve political consensus with all forces,” he said.

“In such a case, the prime minister either resigns from office or goes to the parliament for a vote of confidence.”

However, Chahed refused to resign and pledged to forge ahead with action plans set out by the government.

With the 2019 parliamentary and presidential elections looming large, several parties, mainly from the opposition, have been calling for action against Chahed, including pushing the president to invoke Article 99 of the constitution to force the government out.