UK £2 Issue 245, Year 5 February 23, 2020 EU €2.50 www.thearabweekly.com Germany’s Interview Algeria’s xenophobia Amr Moussa ‘Hirak’ enters problem second year Pages 4,6 Page 13 Page 3 Tunisia forms Hardliners lead in Iran’s a cabinet under ‘sham’ vote Thomas Seibert shadow of Istanbul ardliners were heading for a major victory against power struggle reformists as early results H from Iran’s parliamentary Lamine Ghanmi pointees include legal expert Imed elections signalled a possible nation- Hazgui, a former head of the national wide landslide for conservatives. institution ensuring open access to In a development that could fur- Tunis information, as defence minister; ther rattle the legitimacy of the and Hichem Mechichi, a former legal regime, turnout was estimated at unisian Prime Minister-desig- adviser to the president, as interior much lower than the more than nate Elyes Fakhfakh has an- minister. Noureddine Erray, Tunisian 60% of 2016 when reformists won nounced a coalition govern- ambassador to Muscat, was named all 30 seats for Tehran, their biggest T ment, averting the risk of early foreign minister. stronghold. elections, four months after a long cy- Abdellatif Mekki, Ghannouchi’s This time a list of candidates af- cle of presidential and parliamentary most critical figure inside Ennahda, filiated with Iran’s Islamic Revolu- polls. was named public health minister. tionary Guard Corps was leading the The government lineup is expected Lotfi Zitoun, a former Ghannouchi ad- race for seats representing the capital to be approved by the parliament dur- viser, was selected to be minister of lo- in the 290-member assembly, Fars ing a confidence vote February 26. cal government. Two party-affiliated news agency reported February 22. Bargaining about the government figures, Anouar Maarouf (Ennahda) An unofficial nationwide tally lineup involved four weeks of political and Mohamed Abbou (Democratic said 183 seats had been decided, horse-trading in which political par- Current), are to be in charge of, respec- with 135 conservative candidates ties appeared more interested in the tively, transport and public service. winning office. Fars put the number number of cabinet seats they could Fakhfakh dismissed most of Ennah- of reformists to claim seats at 20 and clinch than in boosting the govern- da’s demands, including a larger share independents at 28. In the clear. Tunisian Prime Minister-designate Ilyes Fakhfakh (L) ment’s ability to address pressing pri- in the cabinet and its insistence on The United States imposed sanc- presents his cabinet list to Tunisian President Kais Saied on orities. including Qalb Tounes, parliament’s tions on two senior officials of the February 19, at Carthage Palace. (AFP) Even more striking was the deep- second-largest party, in the govern- Guardian Council, the body of cler- running power struggle between Tu- ment lineup. ics and judges that decides which nisian President Kais Saied and parlia- “We do not want early elections,” Fakhfakh, who virtually received by those who have opened fatwa candidates may run in elections. ment Speaker Rached Ghannouchi, said Abdelkarim Harouni, the head no votes in presidential and legisla- houses.” The council banned many reform- who is also president of the Islamist of Ennahda’s policy-making Shura tive elections, latched onto the elec- Analysts said the Islamists had a ist candidates from standing in the Ennahda Movement. Council. His admission was a break toral legitimacy of Saied, who won the sense of a solid front against them elections, which apparently gave from the repeated statements by Is- presidential race with more than 70% in recent weeks after most political hardliners a strong advantage and lamists that they were ready for snap of the vote. groups in parliament rejected a gov- triggered calls by opposition activ- Experts said there is a risk elections. Ennahda took seriously Saied’s ernment proposed by Prime Minister- ists for an election boycott. of Fakhfakh’s government Ennahda, more than any other par- threat to dissolve parliament and designate Habib Jemli, who had been US Secretary of State Mike being toppled in a year or so ty, did not want to see Saied rule by floated a plan to topple the caretaker nominated by Ennahda. Pompeo criticised the election as a if the power struggle decree during the period parliament cabinet and replace it by a govern- Ennahda has been suspicious of “sham” and a vote that “is not free between Ghannouchi and would be dissolved pending new elec- ment formed by a figure of its choos- Saied’s expressed wish to change the or fair.” Saied continued. tions, if the cabinet did not obtain par- ing as an alternative to Fakhfakh’s Tunisian political system into a more On February 21, the Financial Ac- liamentary approval. cabinet. Saied dismissed Ennahda’s presidential regime. Saied has also tion Task Force, the world agency Despite being the party with the The proposed government will plan and some parliament members called for amending election laws that monitoring terrorism funding, an- most seats (54) in the 217-member likely win a confidence vote in par- assailed Ghannouchi for the ploy. underpin Ennahda’s dominance of nounced tough new financial scru- parliament, Ennahda found itself in- liament but experts still saw a risk of Ghannouchi’s efforts to block the Tunisian politics. tiny of Iran, after Tehran’s failure to creasingly isolated and at risk of being Fakhfakh’s government being toppled formation of the Fakhfakh-led gov- Saied has no political party and no introduce reforms. sidelined by smaller political parties in in a year or so if the power struggle ernment, despite Saied’s support, lost particular support base in parliament The election took place under the the government formation process. between Ghannouchi and Saied con- steam February 18 when Saied chas- but analysts said his supporters are shadow of a growing spread of the After a minor reshuffle of the cabi- tinued. tised Ghannouchi openly about his working to create a political party that new coronavirus. Iran confirmed net by Fakhfakh, however, Ennahda In its initial opposition to Fakh- attempt to reinterpret constitutional would allow him to convert his high ten new cases February 22, putting said it would participate in the govern- fakh’s cabinet, Ennahda’s leaders provisions in order to topple the care- public opinion ratings into a political its total at 28. Five people have died ment and vote for it in parliament. En- cited a commitment to include Qalb taker government. mobilisation platform. because of the virus. nahda is to have six of the 32 govern- Tounes, a party the Islamists previ- “The text of the constitution is ment portfolios as 17 were assigned to ously described as “corrupt” and tried clear,” Saied said. “Only the consti- Lamine Ghanmi is an Arab Weekly Thomas Seibert is an Arab Weekly “independent” figures. to bar from fielding a candidate in the tution text is the final arbiter in our correspondent in Tunis. correspondent. The proposed government’s ap- presidential elections. differences, not its interpretation P20 P2, 17 Viewpoint Women making inroads in GCC’s political, fiscal environments percentage of those cabinet makeups cabinet as minister of social affairs and through reforms that encouraged more UAE Vice-President and Prime Minister and typically are assigned portfolios minister of state for economic affairs. A inflows of foreign funds. and ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed considered traditionally acceptable for second female cabinet member, Rana The success of the Saudi Aramco bin Rashid al-Maktoum created two Jareer Elass women by Arabian Gulf norms, such al-Fares, was named minister of public share flotation lifted the Tadawul to ministries headed by women: Sara al- as overseeing education, health and works and state minister for housing ninth globally in market capitalisation. Amiri was appointed minister of state culture sectors. affairs in December. In 2004, Nada Abbas Haffadh was for advanced sciences and Mariam he appointment of Kuwait’s This makes the naming of Aqeel as named Bahraini health minister and AlMheiri was named minister of state first female finance minis- Kuwait’s first female finance minister all Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid al-Qasimi for food security. ter and the reappointment the more significant. Not only was she The positioning of became the first woman to join the Bahrain, which had three female of the first woman to lead the first woman to hold that position in UAE cabinet as minister of economy ministers in its cabinet six years ago, the Saudi stock exchange the Kuwaiti cabinet, she was the first women in GCC and planning. In June 2005, Massouma currently has one: Faeqa bint Saeed are noteworthy milestones female finance minister within the GCC. cabinets and heading al-Mubarak became Kuwait’s first al-Saleh, who oversees the Health Tfor women attaining high-profile posi- Aqeel previously served as Kuwait’s female minister, overseeing the plan- Ministry. financial institutions tions in the traditionally male-domi- state minister for economic affairs and ning and administrative development The positioning of women in GCC nated political and fiscal cultures of the acting minister of finance. In a new is a relatively young portfolios. cabinets and heading financial institu- Gulf Cooperation Council. government formed December 17, process. Female representation in the UAE tions is a relatively young process, While Mariam al-Aqeel’s tenure as she was appointed Kuwait’s finance government is an anomaly compared though one can argue that progress is Kuwaiti finance minister was short- minister and acting state minister for In Saudi Arabia, Sarah al-Suhaimi with the lesser number of women being made by the mere existence of lived — she served in her post for two economic affairs.