Tunisian Labor Union Calls for End of Islamist Government

Interior minister offers to resign

Tunisia's largest labor union called on Tuesday for the dissolution of the Islamist-led government and the interior minister offered to resign as a political crisis deepened.

Softening its rejection of such calls, the Islamist Ennahda party, which rules in coalition with two small secular parties, said it was ready for a new government, but would not disband an elected body that has almost completed a new draft constitution.

"We are open to all proposals to reach an agreement, including a salvation or unity government," Ennahda official Ameur Larayedh told Reuters. "But we will not accept dissolving the Constituent Assembly. This is a red line."