Tunisian PM's cabinet hit by resignations Three ministers from the political party of Tunisia's president on Sunday announced they were withdrawing from the government of prime minister Hamadi Jebali, further shaking the country's already wobbly coalition government amid a major crisis. Mr Jebali last week announced a decision to dissolve his cabinet, form a caretaker government and call for fresh elections to ease political tensions after the February 6 assassination of a prominent leftist opposition leader, Chokri Belaid, at the hands of unknown gunmen. Though the decision has been embraced by the mostly secular liberal opposition, his own Islamist political party, Nahda, and its centre-left coalition partners have rejected it as unconstitutional. Under the current Tunisian charter, only the president can dissolve the cabinet. But Mr Jebali has refused to bend, declaring that he would announce the new ministers by the middle of this week and quit his post if the National Constituent Assembly, Tunisia's provisional parliament, rejected his new cabinet. "The candidate (for minister) must be recognised expert in his field, should not be involved in a crime against Tunisian people, should not belong to a political party and must not run for the next elections," Mr Jebali said on Saturday, according to the official Tunisian news agency, TAP. If this composition is accepted, especially by parties represented in the National Constituent Assembly . . . I will stay at the head of the government, but in case it is refused or confidence is withdrawn, I will submit my resignation. Political analyst Youssef Ouslati said the president's Congress for the Republic party was "trying to jump out of a sinking ship," but that its decision had no great weight because Jebali was now the central player. He said that if political uncertainty continued, "the street will be the crucial element." Mr Jebali, a relative moderate within Nahda, insists that fresh elections are the formula for restoring stability. He has sought advice from a highly revered constitutional scholar, Iyadh Ben Achour who has counselled that the cabinet dissolution can be technically described as a reshuffle so long as Mr Jebali retains one minister from the previous government. On Sunday an adviser to President Moncef Marzouki insisted that even a reshuffle must be conducted with the consultation of legislators. It remained unclear what immediate effect the resignation of ministers from the president's Congress of the Republic Party would have on a government already paralysed by political divisions. Mr Belaid's assassination, largely suspected of being the work of Islamist extremists, has emerged as something of a watershed moment in the two years since Tunisians rose up against their longtime ruler Zein el Abidine Ben Ali and inspired revolutions across the Arab world. The killing has ignited violent protests that have left at least one police officer dead, sapped confidence in the government and further polarised Tunisia's Islamist and secular cultural camps. It has also further damaged prospects for the country's economic recovery. The rating agency Fitch announced in a note last week that it might again downgrade the country's credit ratings because of political stability prompted by the assassination.