Tunisia Industry Minister Chosen to Head New Govt.

Tunisia's political parties chose Industry Minister Mehdi Jomaa Saturday to head a government of independent figures aimed at pulling the country out of a months-long crisis, the principal mediator said.

"Dialogue and discussions led to a vote and the choice of Mehdi Jomaa as the candidate for the post of head of government," said Houcine Abassi, secretary general of the powerful UGTT trade union.

"Our people have waited for a long time, but despite the difficulties and obstacles... this dialogue has not failed," he said, adding his "congratulations to Tunisia."

Of the 21 parties participating in the talks, only the Nidaa Tounes party rejected the choice and abstained in the vote.

According to a deal clinched between Tunisia's main parties in October, the new premier has 15 days to form his new government of independents.

He also faces the weighty task of organizing elections in 2014.

Jomaa, a relative unknown, is a 51-year-old engineer with no stated political affiliation. He is married and has five children.

He graduated from the National Engineering School of Tunis in 1988 before taking a higher degree in mechanics, his official biography published in March by state news agency TAP said.

He then went on to a career in the private sector, and headed a division of Hutchinson, the aerospace unit of French conglomerate Total.

He became industry minister following the formation in March of a new government by Ali Larayedh in the crisis that erupted following the assassination a month earlier of key opposition figure Chokri Belaid.

Since then, Jomaa has stayed aloof from the country's political jockeying and focused on his portfolio. In particular, he has lobbied European firms to invest in the country, plagued by economic woes since the ouster nearly three years ago of dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.

But he has also taken the unpopular step of backing a decision to raise fuel prices next year.

Jomaa was chosen a day after the candidate agreed on by the outgoing Islamist-led government and the mostly secular opposition, 92-year-old Mustapha Filali, ruled himself out due to his age.

Ennahda has led a coalition government since the country, the birthplace of the "Arab Spring", held its first ever democratic elections in October 2011.

However, Tunisia has been roiled by social unrest and political crises ever since, the latest sparked by the murder in July of another opposition politician, Mohamed Brahmi, which triggered calls for the resignation of the coalition government.

Under the roadmap brokered by mediators in October, Ennahda and the opposition pledged to negotiate an interim government of independents.

The interim premier should have been agreed on by early November, but the deadline has been pushed back repeatedly since then.

"We have accepted an apolitical government even though the government of Ali Larayedh has a majority (in the constituent national assembly)," said Ennahda party chief Rached Ghannouchi.

"Tunisia was the first country to experience a revolution and will be the first to be a model of democracy," he said, referring to the wave of popular uprisings that spread through the Arab world.

Opposition party Nidaa Tounes, which boycotted the vote, rejected the idea of having a prime minister who was part of the outgoing government.

Issam Chebbi, a leader of the party, said Jomaa would "not be a prime minister of consensus."

The opposition accuses the current government of failing to rein in Islamist militants, who have stepped up attacks, and failing to deal with an economic malaise that has led to a rise in strikes and protests.

Joblessness and regional inequality were driving factors behind the popular uprising that unseated former strongman Ben Ali, inspiring protests across the Middle East and North Africa that toppled leaders in Egypt, Libya and Yemen.