Tunisia PM faces confidence vote amid political tensions

Tunisian Prime Minister Youssef Chahed faced lawmakers in a marathon debate Monday ahead of a vote of confidence needed to approve the government he reshuffled a week ago in a bid to end a months-long paralyzing political crisis.

The debate was still going 12 hours later, a sign of the enmity coursing through Tunisia’s political scene.

However, the prime minister was unlikely to lose the vote due in large part to support of the largest parliamentary bloc, the moderate Islamist Ennahdha party, which has 68 seats in the 217-seat parliament. Chahed needed 109 votes to keep his government from collapsing.

Chahed pleaded for “political stability the nation needs to overcome difficulties,” notably economic and social, ahead of 2019 legislative and presidential elections.

Joblessness is above 15 percent, inflation is nearly 8 percent and trade and other deficits are chronic in the North African nation. The budding democracy, also coping with extremist attacks, is having trouble overcoming political problems despite major strides since autocratic leader Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali was toppled in 2011.

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