Tunisian President Threatens to Dissolve Parl’t

Tunisian President Kais Saied has threatened, on Monday, to dissolve parliament and call for early elections if the new government headed by Elyes Al-Fakhfakh failed to gain the parliamentary confidence vote “to get the country out of the worst political crisis since its independence in 1956.”

During his meeting with Parliament Speaker, Saied said that the constitution is the only reference, adding, “if the new government fails to gain the confidence vote, the parliament will be dissolved, and the Tunisian people will have the final word."

Fakhfakh proposed the line-up of a new government on Saturday and then said negotiations would continue after the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, the biggest in parliament, rejected it.

But with the largest parties opposed to his coalition or unenthusiastic about its makeup, Fakhfakh may struggle to gain the strong parliamentary majority needed for any significant political program to tackle a severe economic crisis.

It is worth mentioning that, unemployment has been high and growth low since the 2011 revolution, while the government has sunk further into debt with a series of big-budget deficits that foreign lenders demand it bring under control.

Ennahda's nominee for prime minister, Habib Jemli, proposed a coalition government that was rejected by parliament in a confidence vote last month.