Elyes Fakhfakh assumes office as Tunisian PM

Elyes Fakhfakh formally assumed his duties as the head of the new Tunisian government on Friday, said the Tunisian presidency.

During the power transfer ceremony, outgoing Prime Minister Youssef Chahed submitted to his successor Fakhfakh a detailed report on the results of his government covering the period 2016-2020.

"Tunisia is now immune to terrorism thanks to the successes achieved by the security forces and the Army," Chahed noted.

For his part, Fakhfakh called for preserving the political stability of Tunisia after the change of government.

"Work must begin immediately to meet the expectations of the Tunisian people by inheriting the achievements of successive governments," the new Prime Minister said.

"We will continue to build an economically strong, just and socially democratic Tunisia," he added.

Fakhfakh announced that he had started working on a program to "save Tunisia, knowing that all political parties are aware of the critical conditions of the country, particularly at the social level."

The Tunisian parliament granted on Wednesday its confidence to the new government led by Fakhfakh.

Composed of 30 ministers and two secretaries of state, the new Tunisian government received 129 favorable votes, 77 rejections and one abstention.

It should be noted that Fakhfakh's cabinet includes 17 independents with the rest members divided between six political parties.

The ceremony on Friday was attended by members of the outgoing government and the new ministerial cabinet, the speaker of the parliament, and leaders of political parties.