Tunisian Prime Minister Rejects Collective Resignation Of Senior Officials

Tunisian Prime Minister, Youssef Chahed, announced he had rejected a collective resignation of two of his ministers and two secretaries of state.

The ministers are: Minister of Local Affairs and Environment, Minister of Vocational Training and Employment.

The secretaries of state are: Secretary to the Minister of Trade and State Secretary to the Minister of Youth and Sports.

“Proposed on an initiative of the President of the Republic, the Government of National Unity was not formed on the basis of political quota.

“I decided to keep them at their posts under the supreme interest of Tunisia especially as the State is above all partisan calculations,’’ Youssef Chahed said in a brief statement.

On Saturday, the National Council of the party, “Afek Tounes”, in a special session held in the northern suburbs of Tunis, called on its representatives in the government to withdraw from their missions.

The National Council said it was on the pretext that the current government deviated from the general spirit of the “Carthage Pact,” a summary document signed in 2016 by a dozen political parties including Afek Tounes.

“This reference document was emptied of its content and lost any motivation to exist, which could generate a false consensus that contradicts the supreme interest of the country,’’ its president, Yassine Brahim, stressed.