Agreement on power sharing in Tunisia

The three main parties to emerge after last month’s election in Tunisia have reached an agreement to share the top posts, according to senior sources from two of the coalition partners.

They were speaking on condition of anonymity.

Under the deal, the most powerful post, that of prime minister, will go to Hamad Jbeli, Secretary-General of the Islamist Ennahda party who won last month’s poll with 41 per cent of the vote.

The sources also confirmed what had already been flagged up, that the post of president, would go to Moncef Marzouki, the leader of the secularist Congress of the Republic party. It is an important but considerably less powerful post.

Giving the role to the leftist Marzouki is being seen as gesture aimed at preserving unity in Tunisia, a democracy still emerging from the uprising that started in January.

Mustafa Ben Jaafar, leader of the third coalition party Ettakatol, will become speaker of the constitutional assembly.

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