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Proposal of Tunisia ‘Government of Competencies’ Turned down by Key Parties

People walk past municipal elections posters in Tunis. (Reuters)
People walk past municipal elections posters in Tunis. (Reuters)
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Proposal of Tunisia ‘Government of Competencies’ Turned down by Key Parties

People walk past municipal elections posters in Tunis. (Reuters)
People walk past municipal elections posters in Tunis. (Reuters)

Tunisia's Prime Minister-designate Hichem Mechichi continued on Thursday his political consultations to form a new government, but failed to reach any progress with blocs representing key parties in the parliament. These parties, which emerged victorious in the last parliamentary elections, are insisting on the formation of a political government that takes into account the results of the 2019 polls.

Parliament Speaker and head of the moderate Islamist Ennahda party, Rached Ghannouchi is a main supporter of the proposal. However, smaller parties back the formation of an independent government of competencies, which observers say will allow them to participate in the government coalition.

Other parties, such as the Heart of Tunisia, People's Movement and Democratic Current, will be harmed by such a government seeing as they were elected to rule and implement their electoral programs. They therefore, view a government of competencies as a “clear coup” against the electoral results and one that is loyal to President Kais Saied.

The Free Destourian Party and National Reform, each boasting 16 MPs, National Bloc, with 11 MPs, and Tahya Tounes, with 14 MPs, endorse an independent government. On the other side of the divide, are the Ennahda (54 MPs), Democratic Current (38 MPs), Heart of Tunisia (27 MPs) and Dignity Coalition (19 MPs), who reject a government of competencies. They represent the majority at parliament and can reject Mechichi’s government lineup when it is presented to a vote at the legislature.

As part of his consultations on Thursday, the PM-designate met with heads of organizations and associations, as well as President of the Supreme Judicial Council Youssef Bouzakher, Chairman of the Bar of Association Ibrahim Bouderbala, President of the Association of Tunisian Judges Anas Hamadi, and General Secretary of the Union of Tunisian Judges Amira al-Amri.

Bouderbala said the political class must reach consensus over the nation’s common interest. He said the “delicate” situation demands that everyone agree on a number of common goals to “save Tunisia.”

Former PM and head of Tahya Tounes, Youssef Chahed urged parties to parties to accept the formation of a government that excludes them. He predicted that they will reach an agreement over a cabinet lineup proposed by Mechichi.

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A Lebanese Family Planning for a Daughter's Wedding is Killed in an Israeli Strike on Their Home

A photo of Reda Gharib’s family, from left: Racha, Nour, Hanan, and Maya Gharib who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their house in al- Housh, in the southern town of Tyre, on September 23 at the onset of the Israeli-Hezbollah war. (AP)
A photo of Reda Gharib’s family, from left: Racha, Nour, Hanan, and Maya Gharib who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their house in al- Housh, in the southern town of Tyre, on September 23 at the onset of the Israeli-Hezbollah war. (AP)
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A Lebanese Family Planning for a Daughter's Wedding is Killed in an Israeli Strike on Their Home

A photo of Reda Gharib’s family, from left: Racha, Nour, Hanan, and Maya Gharib who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their house in al- Housh, in the southern town of Tyre, on September 23 at the onset of the Israeli-Hezbollah war. (AP)
A photo of Reda Gharib’s family, from left: Racha, Nour, Hanan, and Maya Gharib who were killed in an Israeli airstrike on their house in al- Housh, in the southern town of Tyre, on September 23 at the onset of the Israeli-Hezbollah war. (AP)

The family WhatsApp group chat buzzed with constant messages. Israel was escalating its airstrikes on villages and towns in southern Lebanon. Everyone was glued to the news.
Reda Gharib woke up uncharacteristically early that day, Sept. 23. Living a continent away in Senegal, he scrolled through videos and pictures shared by his sisters and aunts of explosions around their neighborhood in Tyre, Lebanon’s ancient coastal city.
His aunts decided to leave for Beirut. His father, mother and three sisters had no such plans, The Associated Press reported.
Then his father announced to the group that he had received a call from the Israeli military to evacuate or risk their lives. After that, the chat fell silent. Ten minutes later, Gharib called his father. There was no answer.
The Gharibs’ apartment had been directly hit by an Israeli airstrike. The family had no time to get out. Gharib’s father, Ahmed, a retired Lebanese army officer, his mother, Hanan, and his three sisters were all killed.
“The whole apartment was gone. It is back to bare bones. As if there was nothing there,” said Gharib, speaking from the Senegalese capital, Dakar, where he has been living since 2020.
The Israeli military said it struck a Hezbollah site hiding rocket launchers and missiles.
Gharib said his family had no connection to Hezbollah. The direct hit gutted their apartment, while those above and below suffered only damage, suggesting a specific part of the building was targeted. Gharib said it was his family's home.
The strike was one of more than 1,600 Israel said it carried out on Sept. 23, the first day of an intensified bombardment of Lebanon it has waged for the past month. More than 500 people were killed that day, a casualty figure not observed in Gaza on a single day until the second week, said Emily Tripp, director of London-based Airwars, a conflict monitoring group.
Israel has vowed to cripple Hezbollah to put an end to more than a year of cross-border fire by the Iranian-backed militant group that began the day after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack triggered the war in Gaza. It says its strikes are targeting Hezbollah’s members and infrastructure. But there are also hundreds of civilians among the more than 2,000 people killed in the bombardment over the past month — often entire families killed in their homes.
Since then, the street where the Gharib family lived — an area of shops, residential buildings and offices of international agencies in Tyre’s al-Housh district — has been battered with repeated airstrikes and is now deserted.
Gharib, 27, a pilot and entrepreneur, moved to Senegal in search of a better future but always planned to return to Lebanon to start a family.
He was close to his three sisters, the keeper of their secrets and best friend, he said. Growing up, their father was often away, so he and his mother took charge of family affairs.
The last time he visited his family was in May 2023, when his sister Maya, an engineering student, got engaged. She had planned to marry on Oct. 12. But as tensions with Israel grew in September, Gharib's plans to come home for the wedding were uncertain. She told him she would put it off until he could get there.
After the strike, her fiancé, also an army officer, found her body and those of the rest of her family in a hospital morgue in Tyre.
“She was not destined to have her wedding. We paraded her as a bride to paradise instead,” Gharib said. On the day the wedding was to have taken place he posted pictures of his sister, including her wedding dress.
His sister Racha, 24, was about to graduate as a dentist and planned to open her own clinic. “She loved life,” he said.
His youngest sister, Nour, 20, was studying to be a dietitian and prepping to be a personal trainer. Gharib called her the “laughter of the house.”
There is nothing left of his family now except for a few pictures on his phone and on social media posts.
“I am so hurt. But I know the hurt will be hardest when I come to Lebanon,” Gharib said. “Not even a picture of them remains hanging on the walls. Their clothes are not there. Their smell is no longer in the house. The house is totally gone."
"They took my family and the memories of them.”