Summary Premier-designate Ali Larayedh will unveil a new Tunisia coalition government today.
TUNIS (AFP) - Premier-designate Ali Larayedh will unveil on Thursday night a new coalition government after tortuous negotiations aimed at ending a serious political crisis, the office of President Moncef Marzouki said.
"He will present the list of the new government s members and then hold a news conference," Marzouki aide Chaker Bouajila said, without providing details on the new cabinet line-up.
Earlier, Larayedh was reportedly going in to tense, last-minute negotiations on forming a new coalition government to defuse Tunisia s political crisis.
But the hopes of Larayedh and his ruling Islamist party Ennahda to form a broadly based coalition appeared compromised when three political parties that had been asked to join announced they were pulling out of the talks.
Consequently, only Ennahda and its secular allies in the previous government -- Marzouki s Congress for the Republic and Ettakatol -- were actually discussing the composition of a new cabinet and a proposed government programme.
With less than 48 hours before a constitutional deadline, Larayedh, the outgoing interior minister, had left open the possibility of failure as he prepared to meet party leaders.
"We have held talks with the parties individually and then in groups. Now we are going to discuss the makeup of the government. Much of it is agreed but some points remain," he told Mosaique FM radio earlier Thursday.
