Tunisia's parliament votes to oust Prime Minister Essid
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A picture taken on July 30, 2016 shows a general view of a meeting of the Tunisian parliament in the capital, Tunis. (By AFP)
Tunisia’s Prime Minister Habib Essid has been voted out of office by the country’s parliament.
According to Press TV, out of the 191 lawmakers present for a no-confidence vote late Saturday, 118 lawmakers voted in favor of the motion against Essid, who had been in office for 18 months.
Only three MPs supported him. Others abstained.
Essid, 67, had told lawmakers before the motion was even passed that he already knew he would be put aside.
“I didn’t come to obtain the 109 votes” needed to remain in power as prime minister, he had told parliamentarians earlier on Saturday.
Essid’s coalition government comprised an amalgam of representatives from prominent parties in the parliament.
He had been under fire by all the parties for what they deemed as his incompetence to resolve economic and political issues in the country.
Talks on choosing his successor are now expected to get underway on August 1.
Analysts say the talks may take months, plunging the country into an even deeper economic abyss. The unemployment rate in Tunisia was 15% in 2015.
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