Head of the Tunisian Islamist Ennahda party Rached Ghannouchi said Friday his party is ready to form a coalition government with secular rivals including former officials who worked with ousted President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, Sky News reported.
"Tunisia still needs a consensus between the Islamists and secularists because after elections we will not be in a stable democracy, but a transitional democracy. We need unity government to face all the challenges in our troubled region", Ghannouchi added.
Ennahda, whose leadership spent years in exile or jailed under Ben Ali, can work within a coalition government with its main rival secular party, Nida Tounes, and other parties which include former Ben Ali ministers, Ghannouchi said.
"All these parties are legal, so we are ready to work with them. We have no veto on any legal party", Ghannounchi added.
Ghannouchi said Ennahda was well aware of the tough decisions needed to keep Tunisia’s economy on track, including subsidy cuts, new investment incentives and the restructuring of public institutions.
"We have become more realistic and able to form a consensus with our rivals... We became part of the state and understand the problems and priorities of the country", he said of his party’s two years in power.
Ghannouchi called for an end to divisive rhetoric, saying that the new constitution has united all Tunisians.