TUNIS
A senior official of the Nidaa Tounes Party on Friday said his party had enough seats in parliament to form Tunisia's next government.
"We have the necessary parliamentary majority to form the government," Taieb Baccouche, party secretary-general, said.
In an interview with the independent Shems Radio, Baccouche added that certain Tunisian parties had agreed to join a Nidaa Tounes-led parliamentary bloc that would ultimately bring the number of assembly seats controlled by the party to 120.
Nidaa Tounes managed to win 86 of the 217 seats in Tunisia's parliament in polls held in October.
Baccouche said the Islamist Ennahda Movement, which holds 69 seats in parliament, had opted to be Tunisia's opposition, describing the move as "positive."
The Anadolu Agency could not obtain immediate comment from Ennahda regarding Baccouche's remarks.
Tunisia is due to hold the second round of its presidential elections on December 21, in which Nidaa Tounes' candidate, Beji Caid Essebsi, will face off against incumbent interim president Moncef Marzouki.
Essebsi won some 1.9 million votes (39.4 percent) in a first-round poll in early November, while Marzouki won roughly 1.1 million votes (33.4 percent).
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