The President of the Republic has instructed the current Interior Minister, Hichem Mechichi, to form a new government following the resignation of Elyes Fakhfakh on 15 July, against a background of conflicts of interest and political quarrels with the first party in the Assembly, Ennahdha.
Hichem Mechichi, 46, current Minister of the Interior, a lawyer by training and former legal adviser to the President of the Republic, is not the candidate of any political party.
Several names had been submitted by the forces present in Parliament in recent days, but President Kaïs Saïed finally opted for someone close to his cabinet and a man from the administration. A choice also to show his reluctance to deal with certain political parties such as the Ennahdha party which lobbied with a coalition for the former head of government, Elyes Fakhfakh, to resign after less than five months in power.
It is also a slap in the face for Parliament, whose political quarrels are constantly in the news in Tunisia. The latest of these is a motion of censure tabled by Members of Parliament against the President of the Assembly, Rached Ghannouchi, also leader of the Islamist party Ennahdha. With his choice of Hichem Mechichi, who has served as chief of staff in several ministries, the President is once again putting Parliament to face up to its responsibilities: to give confidence to this future head of government, away from the political divides and to his ministerial portfolio which he will have to compose within a month or risk a dissolution of Parliament and the organization of early elections as authorized by the Constitution.