20110117
reuters

PARIS (Reuters) - Moncef Marzouki, an exiled leader of a secular Tunisian opposition party, said on Monday he was reconsidering running for election after the departure of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, calling a newly formed government a "farce".

Ousted president Ben Ali fled Tunisia on Friday after a month of violent street protests, leaving the country in the hands of a caretaker government.

Tunisia's prime minister appointed opposition figures to a new coalition government on Monday, seeking to establish political stability, but street demonstrators are demanding that Ben Ali's ruling party relinquish power altogether.

"The three (opposition) parties (included) have already functioned in the Ben Ali system and all the real forces that represent the country have been excluded," Marzouki told French news channel i-Tele.

He called the new government a "false" opening.

Marzouki, head of the centre-left Congress for the Republic, is set to return to Tunisia on Tuesday, and told Reuters earlier on Monday that he planned to run for the presidency.

"My candidacy has been temporarily put into question because the Tunisian people won't let itself be duped by this farce," he said. "This government will have to accept the people's verdict and become a real transitional government, which is not the case now."

Marzouki said the new government would still see Ben Ali's party control the interior ministry, which would be responsible for organising elections.

"It will probably do everything to ensure its candidate is elected," Marzouki told i-Tele.