TUNIS: Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali said yesterday that lengthy consultations on a Tunisian government reshuffle had failed and that he will choose a new line-up unless a compromise is found soon.

“We did not agree on a government reshuffle but the negotiations were positive,” said Jebali, whose Islamist Ennahda party heads a coalition government with the secular parties Ettakatol and Congress for the Republic.

“It is my duty as prime minister to submit in the next few days a list of government members to the Constituent Assembly for their approval,” Jebali said. But he said he still hoped a “consensus” would emerge, adding that “otherwise I will propose the list that I deem valid”.

Political parties had been demanding a government change in the wake of a wave of violence and social unrest that have rocked Tunisia since the ouster two years ago of veteran dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

AFP