Tunisian PM resigns amid growing political crisis

[NBCNews]

  By Tarek Amara, ReutersTunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali resigned on Tuesday after failing  to replace a government pulled apart by acrimony between his Islamist  allies and their secular opponents. Str / EPATunisia's Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali speaks as he announces his resignation during a news conference in Tunis, Tunisia, Feb. 19, 2013. Jebali resigned after his attempt to form a government of technocrats failed.Jebali had threatened to  quit if his plan for a non-partisan cabinet of technocrats to lead the  north African country into early elections foundered.

In the end  it was his own party, Ennahda, that rejected the proposal, prolonging  the political stand-off that has cast a shadow over Tunisia's fledgling  democracy and deepened an economic crisis.

"I vowed that if my  initiative did not succeed, I would resign and ... I have already done  so," Jebali told a news conference after meeting with President Moncef  Marzouki.

Tunisia's deepest political crisis since the 2011 Arab  Spring uprising that toppled President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali began  when leading secular opposition politician Chokri Belaid was gunned down  outside his home in Tunis on Feb. 6.

No one claimed  responsibility for the killing, but it deepened the misgivings of  secularists who believe Jebali's government has failed to deal firmly  enough with religious extremists threatening the country's stability.

Follow @NBCNewsWorldProtesters  poured onto the streets in the following days and Marzouki's secularist  party threatened to quit the coalition government.

Jebali said  he would try to form a cabinet of apolitical technocrats to restore calm  and take Tunisia to elections, but did not consult his Ennahda allies  or their secular coalition partners before making the proposal.

Several  secular politicians backed the plan but Ennahda, winner of most  parliamentary seats in elections that followed Ben Ali's overthrow,  opposed the idea, fearing it would be sidelined from power.

Country in 'real trouble'

Jebali bet his own job on the outcome, saying he would quit if he was rebuffed, and lost.

He  quits 15 months into the job, although political experts said Marzouki  was likely to re-appoint him as caretaker premier before a new leader is  appointed.

Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi has said he wants  to see Jebali head a new coalition. President Marzouki was due to meet  Ghannouchi on Wednesday to ask him to name a prime minister.

But  Jebali, announcing his resignation late on Tuesday, said he would not  lead another government without assurances on the timing of fresh  elections and a new constitution.

No government would be viable without Ennahda's blessing given its strength in parliament.

Ghannouchi  has said it is essential that Islamists and secular parties share power  now and in the future, and that his party was willing to compromise  over control of important ministries such as foreign affairs, justice  and interior.

"Ennahda is in negotiations with political parties  to form a national coalition government", said Fethi Ayadi, a senior  Ennahda official.

Iyed Dahmani, a leader of the secular Republican Party, said some kind of agreement was vital.

"We are in real trouble, politically and economically," he said.

The  crisis has disrupted efforts to revitalize an economy hit hard by the  disorder that followed the overthrow of veteran strongman Ben Ali.

Tunisia  has been negotiating with the International Monetary Fund for a $1.78  billion loan and politicians said Jebali's inability to re-establish a  functioning government had slowed efforts to restore normality.

Credit  rating service Standard and Poor's said on Tuesday it had lowered its  long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit rating on Tunisia,  citing "a risk that the political situation could deteriorate further  amid a worsening fiscal, external and economic outlook."

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

NBC News