Tunisia Government Officials Prep for Constitution, Political Talks

Written by Makula Dunbar

Oct 10, 2013

Representatives of Tunisia’s government and opposition political parties met Monday to iron out logistical concerns prior to political talks that are to start later this week.

While there was hope over the weekend that today would be the opening session of the ‘national dialogue’ called for in the roadmap, but the meeting was instead used to discuss procedures for how the national dialogue will take place.

Mohamed Hamdi of the Democratic Alliance told radio station Mosaique FM that the first meeting under the roadmap framework will not take place until Thursday.

It is unclear whether parties will hold further preparatory meetings prior to Thursday’s session.

Monday’s meeting also included representatives of Tunisia’s UGTT labor union and the three other civil society organizations that developed the roadmap which 21 parties agreed to on Saturday.

According to the roadmap, parties will agree on “an independent national figure” to head and nominate a new, nonpartisan government to be approved by the participants.

There are also deadlines of three weeks for the current government to resign, and four weeks for the NCA to finish its work on the constitution, finalize the electoral law, and choose an electoral board.