TUNISIA - Tunisia’s President Kais Saied has given ElyesFakhfakh, a former tourism and finance minister, the difficult task of assembling the country’s next government. Fakhfakh, a member of the centre-left Ettakatol party, has a 30-day period to form a coalition government. Failure to win parliamentary approval would force Saied to dissolve the House and call for a fresh election. The nomination came after the Tunisian Parliament earlier in January rejected a government proposed by Habib Jemli, the previous prime minister-designate who had been nominated for the job by Ennahdha, a moderate Islamist party. Though the most powerful force in the 217-strong parliament, Ennahdha’s 52 seats meant that it alone could not guarantee Jemli’s inauguration. Following the voting down of Jemli’s proposed cabinet on January 10, Saied had 10 days to designate a new prime minister, as per Tunisia’s constitution. The former constitutional law professor, whose mandate as president is limited to foreign affairs and national security, subsequently reached out to a number of political parties to request their recommendations for the premiership.