Nahda Picks Hardliner for Prime Minister

Ali Laarayedh

Tunisia's al-Nahda Party has chosen a hardliner, Interior Minister Ali Laarayedh, as its candidate for Prime Minister in the wake of the resignation of Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, the Party's Secretary-General.Al-Nahda holds a plurality of seats in the Constituent Assembly.

Laarayedh, who spent some 14 years in prison in the Ben Ali years, has been criticized for his Interior Ministry allegedly doing too little to stop Salafi violence against secularists. The nomination is being criticized by liberals and seems likelier to exacerbate the current political crisis than to resolve it.