New Tunisian Government Sworn In

The new coalition government in Tunisia was sworn in and started its duty on Thursday under Prime Minister Elyes Fakhfakh.

Cabinet was sworn in before President Kais Saied at the Carthage Palace.

In his speech, Saied said: "The expectations and hopes of our people are big and no one has the right to ignore them or disappoint our people."

He noted that the most important challenge to the new Cabinet is the current economic and social situation.

"Poverty and misery are the battles we must fight together with unrelenting determination," he said, adding that fighting corruption is one of the issues that must be solved.

Tunisia's parliament early Thursday approved Fakhfakh's new coalition government.

Lawmakers voted 129 to 77 in favor of Fakhfakh's team with one parliament member abstaining.

The confidence vote in the parliament began Wednesday morning and took around 14 hours.

Last week, Fakhfakh announced a modified lineup of his new government after a meeting with Saied.

The coalition government led by Fakhfakh includes 30 ministers and two deputy ministers, with 16 of them party members and 14 independent.

Bassel Ibrahim contributed to this report from Ankara -