Ruling Ennahda calls non-partisan Cabinet in Tunisia

TUNIS - Reuters

Demonstrators hold flags as they take part in a protest against Ennanda. AFP photo

The secretary general of Tunisia’s ruling Islamist party said yesterday he supported the formation of a non-partisan Cabinet in the country, a day after secular opposition supporters rallied to oust the government.

“We need to form a non-political government to lead the country to elections within six months,” Hamadi Jebali, secretary General of Ennahda and a former prime minister, said. Tens of thousands had demonstrated on Aug. 13 in Bardo Square in Tunis in an escalation of ongoing protests since the assassination of opposition figure Mohammad Brahmi on July 25.

“Go, Go Ennahda ... the people want to bring down the regime,” chanted the crowd of mainly female secularist protesters, in one of the largest opposition protests to be held in front of Parliament in Bardo Square.

A few kilometers away, thousands of Islamists protested in support of Tunisia’s moderate Islamist rulers in Habib Bourguiba Avenue.

The rival demonstrations had raised fears of violent confrontation and a threat to the transition to democracy in Tunisia, birthplace of the Arab uprisings.