Tunisia's New Government: Tension Among Factions

Tunisia held peaceful presidential and parliamentary elections at the end of 2014, but its attempts to form a new government in January reveal tensions among its political factions. Lilia Labidi, a Woodrow Wilson Center fellow and former Tunisian Minister for Women's Affairs, analyzes Tunisia's new government and its difficulties transitioning to a democratic system. The following are excerpts from Labidi's piece.

On January 23, 2015, Prime Minister Habib Essid announced the members of the new Tunisian government after much negotiation with the various political parties. Did Prime Minister Essid intend to give a political lesson to Tunisians, both to those who had been elected to the Assembly of the People’s Representatives (ARP) and to civil society?

The ARP’s situation is worrisome for two reasons. First, 76 percent of the groups in political parties elected to the ARP have not submitted the required financial documents to the appropriate authorities in a timely manner. They therefore run the risk of losing their seats. Second, ARP members are debating the rules and regulations of the parliament as well as the definition of parliamentary opposition. They have been unable to reach an agreement on this last issue; without an agreement, the ARP is unable to vote on approval for a proposed government.

There is conflict within a number of political parties in this context. In Nidaa Tounes, some members of the party, including MP Abdelaziz Kotti, have argued that there has been no exchange of information within the party regarding the formation of the government. Khemaïs Ksila, another Nidaa Tounes MP, reproached some of the party’s cadres for their “family mentality” for favoring members of their own party. Saïd Aïdi—former Minister of Employment and Professional Training in Mohamed al-Ghannouchi’s and Béji Caïd Essebsi’s governments in 2011—and Lazhar Akremi—a deputy minister in the Ministry of Interior in Béji Caïd Essebsi’s 2011 government—were elected as representatives in the ARP as members of Nidaa Tounes. Akremi resigned his position as spokesman for Nidaa Tounes, and Aïdi and Akremi protested against the exclusion of Nidaa Tounes’ ARP members from ministerial positions in the first proposed government. Both were subsequently nominated to be ministers in Habib Essid’s first proposed government. Additionally, Selma Elloumi Rekik, a businesswoman whose family provided significant support to Nidaa Tounes, sought to leave her elected position in the ARP to become President Béji Caïd Essebsi’s adviser.1 She was instead nominated to be the Minister of Labor and Professional Training in Essid’s first proposed government.

The ARP includes 68.7 percent men and 31.3 percent women. Women account for almost one fourth of the members of the first proposed Essid government; there are 9 women (3 ministers and 6 state secretaries) out of a total of 38 members (24 ministers and 14 state secretaries). What was the reaction in Tunisia to the nomination of these women? While the number was received positively, some of the individuals have attracted criticism. One of the proposed women, for example, has been criticized for signing a petition against the hijab. The independent women who were named for this government have been criticized for being awarded such high positions despite their critics’ views that these women did not contribute much when they were in charge of ministerial departments in the past. Despite the general support for the creation of a secretariat for the 2011 revolution’s martyrs—the families of whom felt insulted by the welcome at the revolution’s anniversary celebration on January 14, 2015 at the Carthage Presidential Palace—some martyrs’ associations criticized the woman nominated to head the secretariat, saying she is not qualified for this position.

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