Tunisia’s Prime Minister-designate Elyes Fakhfakh has postponed a meeting with 10 parties to approve the government program at the request of Ennahda, igniting more rumors on the health of Speaker Rached Ghannouchi, who is also the movement’s leader.
Ghannouchi, 79, has reportedly had a health setback, asking for the postponement of the meeting till Monday.
But Ennahda denied the reports, saying in a statement that Ghannouchi “followed up his activities on Sunday and attended political and partisan meetings.”
A leader in the movement, Lotfi Zitoun, also denied the rumor and published a photo of Ghannouchi having breakfast with him.
Ghannouchi arrived in Tunis on Saturday morning from Burkina Faso after participating in the 15th session of the Parliamentary Union of the OIC Member States (PUIC) Conference as his country’s speaker.
His health has never been a topic of discussion, yet the meeting’s postponement fueled rumors about a setback.
Meanwhile, Ennahda official Ajmi Ourimi affirmed the movement’s adherence to an expanded government of national unity.
“The movement’s executive office, which held a meeting under Ghannouchi, agreed to submit a proposal to Fakhfakh to expand the scope of consultations on the government formation,” Ourimi stated.
This way no party would be excluded and he would garner strong political support to win parliament’s vote of confidence, stated Ourimi.
He also stressed his movement’s commitment to help the proposed government succeed, pointing to “the importance of clear positions and openness to all political parties.”
He said the meeting tackled the “necessity of revising the electoral law, so that any political party with more than five percent of the votes can reach the parliament and enjoy public funding.”
Ten parties have expressed support for Fakhfakh’s government. These are Ennahda, Democratic Current Party, Dignity Coalition (al-Karama), People Popular Movement, Long live Tunisia Movement, Tunisian Alternative, Republican People's Union, Nidaa Tounes, Tunis Project Movement and Afaq Tounes.
However, several statements have revealed sharp differences among them on the government’s support mechanism.
