Tunisian president delays withdrawal from Cabinet

Tunisia’s Congress for the Republic party [CPR] has decided to delay its withdrawal from the country’s fractious Cabinet until next week, it has been revealed today. The party, led by President Moncef Marzouki, confirmed last week that its ministers would quit in anger over the assassination of opposition leader Chokri Belaid. Belaid, who was the secular leader of the Democratic Patriots, was shot on February 6 as he was getting out of his car. Following the assassination, Tunisia’s Prime Minister, Hamadi Jebali, announced his decision to dissolve the current Cabinet and install a technocratic government – a move which has caused outrage among the his own ruling Ennahda party as well as many others that make up the current coalition. “If we don’t see any response to our demands within seven days, our party will leave the Cabinet once and for all,” CPR Secretary General Mohammed Abou told reporters in Tunis today. Abou went on to say that his party is particularly concerned over whether the team of technocrats Jabeli intends to install will include the return of figures linked to the previous regime. Critics hope that CPR’s announcement today will give Jabeli some time to heal the fractious rifts that are threatening the collapse of the current government. Meanwhile, Tunisia’s Minister of State Property, Salim Bin Humaidan, has told Arabstoday that his party supports the idea of forming a national consensus government.