Tunisia PM-designate says failed to form new cabinet

Tunisia's Prime Minister-designate Mehdi Jomaa has announced he had failed to reach a consensus on a new cabinet due to oversee the run-up to fresh elections.
He had been expected to submit his line-up to President Moncef Marzouki yesterday but said: "I chose not to do it in order for a consensus to be reached."
"For my part, my line-up is ready, it includes ministers of great quality but the security, social and economic situation make consensus a necessity," Jomaa explained yesterday.
"I may be asked again (to form a new cabinet), or it could be somebody else," he said.

A vote on at the National Constituent Assembly on the long-delayed new constitution is due on today and the new line-up had been expected to go through a confidence vote on Tuesday.