WRAPUP 1-Tunisia's PM pledges to step aside after vote

Sat Jan 22, 2011 9:52am GMT

[-] Text [+]

* Interim PM pledges to step down after vote

* Meetings at prime minister's office

* Nation enters second day of mourning

By Lin Noueihed and Andrew Hammond

TUNIS, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Tunisia's interim prime minister promised to quit politics after elections, a pledge intended to appease protesters demanding remnants of the old guard leave a unity coalition formed after the overthrow of the president.

Mohamed Ghannouchi, who until a week ago was premier under ousted strongman Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, hosted cabinet-level meetings on Saturday morning at his office. Police had rolled out barbed wire around it, bracing for a repeat of protests which seemed to rattle the interim leadership the previous day.

In an emotional late-night address on state television after a day of protests outside his headquarters, Ghannouchi had sought to distance himself from Ben Ali and vowed to track him down. His former ally fled to Saudi Arabia on Jan. 14.

"I lived like Tunisians and I feared like Tunisians," he said, striving to identify with the millions who suffered economic hardships and political repression for 24 years under Ben Ali and his rapacious family entourage. Continued...

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