TUNIS: Tunisia’s secular Nidaa Tounes party won 86 seats in last month’s parliamentary election, knocking moderate Islamists Ennahda into second place with 69 seats, according to definitive official results published yesterday.
The final Nidaa Tounes figure was up one on the 85 seats provisionally tallied following the October 26 poll. It comes just two days ahead of a presidential election expected to be won by Nidaa Tounes leader Beji Caid Essebsi, whose party will have to form a coalition government as it fell short of an absolute majority. Coming third in the election to the 217-member parliament was the Free Patriotic Union (UPL), led by entrepreneur Slim Riahi, with 16 seats.
The leftist coalition Popular Front coalition took 15, while another 15 parties divided up the balance.
Sisi to meet Pope on Monday
VATICAN CITY: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi will meet Pope Francis at the Vatican on Monday, religious news agency I.Media said, citing diplomatic sources.
The meeting will be the first visit to the Vatican by an Egyptian leader in eight years and comes six months after Sisi’s rise to power.
Sisi is expected for afternoon talks with the pope, along with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Choukri and three other ministers, I.Media said.
He will then meet Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in Rome at 1800 GMT, Renzi’s office said.
Beirut scraps independence rally
BEIRUT: Lebanon’s government has decided to cancel Independence Day celebrations for the first time since the 1975-1990 civil war because of the country’s presidential vacuum, the information minister said yesterday.
The failure of parliament to elect a new president reflects a profound political crisis linked to the war in neighbouring Syria.
“Yesterday Prime Minister Tammam Salam gave a message during the parliamentary session that we would not celebrate Independence Day this year... because of the presidential vacuum,” minister Ramzi Jreij said.AFP
