Tunisian President named local affairs minister Youssef Chahed, as prime minister-designate. (AFP)
Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi today named local affairs minister Youssef Chahed, 40, as prime minister-designate tasked with forming a unity cabinet.
"I met today with the president... who charged me with forming a national unity government," Chahed told reporters outside the presidential palace in Carthage.
Chahed, an in-law of Essebsi, now has 30 days to come up with a ministerial team.
His appointment comes days after parliament passed a vote of no confidence in outgoing premier Habib Essid.
Chahed, who belongs to Essebsi's Nidaa Tounes, takes office as Tunisia struggles with a stagnant economy and the threat posed by jihadist groups operating in the country.
"Today we are entering a new stage that requires effort, sacrifice, audacity, courage, selflessness and unorthodox solutions," he told reporters.
He promised that women would be better represented in his cabinet than in previous governments and called for greater youth involvement.