Tunisia Ennahda leader refuses non-party government

Leader of Tunisia\'s ruling Islamist Ennahda party, Rached Ghannouchi Tunis – Azhar Jarboui Rached Ghannouchi, chairman of Tunisia\'s ruling Islamist Ennahda party, rejected on Thursday opposition demands for a non-party government, saying the experience of Egypt should encourage parties to engage in more dialogue to resolve the country\'s crisis.
During a press conference, discussing the events in Egypt, Ghannouchi refused dissolving the current Tunisian coalition government, but said he would accept a national unity government if all political parties were represented
\"We refuse a non-partisan government because this type of government could not manage the delicate situation of the country,\" Ghannouchi told journalists. \"The government needs a lot of time to manage the political and economic issues.\"
“We don’t think starting dialogue requires forming a national salvation government,” he added, pointing out that the current situation in Tunisia couldn’t bear holding discussions to form a new government, a process that could take months.
Gannouchi admitted the government has made mistakes and delayed dealing with urgent issues, however he stressed that this does not justify abandoning legitimacy and ending national dialogue.
He described some of the initiatives that insist on changing the government as “chaotic” particularly the call to dissolve the National Constituent Assembly.
\"Events in Egypt should push us towards dialogue,\" he said, calling Wednesday\'s bloody crackdown - in which at least 525 people were killed - \"a failure for democracy in Egypt\".
\"Those who want another al-Sisi in Tunisia,\" he said, referring to Egyptian military leader General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, \"should not continue to dream about that\".
Furthermore, he called on the UN and the Security Council to denounce the violence against Egyptian protesters.
Meanwhile the Congress Party for the Republic (CPR) urged authorities to recall the Tunisian ambassador in Cairo, as a sign of Tunisia’s rejection of the violence in Egypt.
The CPR, President Moncef Marzouki’s party, condemned the violence in Egypt, describing it as a massacre the military committed against its opponents.
Tunisia, traditionally one of the most secular countries in the Arab world, faces its deepest crisis since a popular revolution overthrew Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011.
An assembly elected to draw up a new constitution within a year has still not finished its work and Islamist militants have stepped up attacks to destabilize the government.
A dozen opposition parties formed a Salvation Front to demand the resignation of the Ennahda government after the assassination of an opposition leader in July; the second such killing this year by suspected Islamist militants.
In contrast to Egypt, the Tunisian military do not have a large, profitable stake in the economy and have not traditionally intervened in politics. Few observers expect Tunisia\'s military to step in to resolve the current crisis.