{Members of Tunisia’s parliament vote Prime Minister Habib Essid out of office 18 months after his appointment.}<\/p>\n
Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid has been ousted after overwhelmingly losing a vote of confidence in parliament.<\/p>\n
In power for a year and a half, Essid’s opponents said he had failed to tackle the country’s economic and security problems.<\/p>\n
A total of 118 members of parliament voted late on Saturday to unseat Essid; three voted for him to stay at the helm; and 27 abstained.<\/p>\n
The results were largely expected, with several ruling coalition party members declaring ahead of the session that they were not going to renew their confidence in the prime minister.<\/p>\n
Earlier on Saturday, Essid, 67, had told parliament he knew he would be voted out.<\/p>\n
“I didn’t come to obtain the 109 votes [needed to remain in office]. I came to expose things to the people and to members of parliament,” said Essid.<\/p>\n
Negotiations on a replacement were expected to start on Monday. <\/p>\n
Tunisian corruption whistleblowers call for protection<\/p>\n
Essid had been under pressure to quit since President Beji Caid Essebsi called for a new unity government last month to push through reforms and calm social tensions over the country’s economic crisis, high unemployment and recent security issues.<\/p>\n
{{‘Months of negotiations’}}<\/p>\n
Political analyst Youssef Cherif said Saturday’s events were important not only for Tunisia, but for the region.<\/p>\n
“This is the first time in Tunisia that such an event happened; first time a government goes to parliament and a vote of no confidence is recorded,” he told Al Jazeera from the capital, Tunis, after the vote.<\/p>\n
Cherif said, however, that the result would be bad news for the country’s economic and political situation.<\/p>\n
“This will open the doors again for days, weeks, even months of negotiations between different political parties and different political players … [putting] all the big projects that were supposed to take place on standby until a new government is formed and voted in.”<\/p>\n
Essid’s coalition government was comprised of four groups, including Nidaa Tounes and the Ennahda party, the largest parliamentary force.<\/p>\n
“There is an agreement between the parties and organisations on the need for change,” Ennahda chief Rached Ghannouchi said last week, according to a Reuters news agency report. <\/p>\n
Last year, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) armed group claimed two high-profile attacks in Tunisia, killing 59 foreign tourists. <\/p>\n
The country has been in a state of emergency since November 2015, when a suicide bombing, also claimed by ISIL, killed 12 presidential guards in central Tunis.<\/p>\n
Unemployment stood at 15 percent at the end of last year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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