TUNIS, Tunisia – The Islamist party dominating Tunisia's ruling coalition Thursday rejected its own prime minister's decision to form a non-partisan technocratic government to try to appease critics, signaling that the political crisis brought on by the assassination of a prominent leftist politician is far from over. The announcement by Ennahda throws into question efforts to resolve one of the worst crises Tunisia has faced since its revolution two years ago and makes plain that there are divisions not just between the government and the opposition, but within the ruling party itself. The country's main labor union also declared a general strike for Friday over the assassination, a provocative move that will shut the country down and is expected to inflame tensions in a country already on edge after Chokri Belaid, a fierce government critic, was shot several times in his car just outside his home Wednesday morning by unknown assailants. Demonstrations erupted Wednesday around the country and had to be quelled by tear gas. Though the capital, Tunis, was quiet Thursday amid cold weather and a heavy downpour, the country's Radio Mosaique reported full-scale riots in the southern mining city of Gafsa, where Belaid's Popular Front coalition of leftist parties has a great deal of support. Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali announced late Wednesday that he would dissolve the government and form a new one of technocrats to manage the country until elections, giving in to the longstanding opposition demand in a widely welcomed move. On Thursday, however, the party rejected the move and maintained that it was not going to toss away legitimacy it had gained in elections. "The position of Ennahda is that the troika (the three party ruling coalition) will continue to lead the country but it is open to a partial ministerial reshuffle," party spokesman Abdallah Zouari said. This position, however, is that of the party before the crisis when lengthy talks over a Cabinet reshuffle had already broken down. Belaid's family and associates blame the Ennahda Party for complicity in the assassination, and other opposition figures have claimed there is a list of potential targets. "It is the Ennahda and no one else that killed him," said his father Salah Belaid at his home where mourners came to pay respects to the coffin. "He told me, 'father, they are targeting me' ... most of the time he wasn't sleeping at his home." – Agencies
