Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki met Wednesday with the leader of the ruling Islamist party to discuss appointing a new prime minister following the resignation of Hamadi Jebali, dpa reported.
Jebali resigned Tuesday after failing to win support for his proposal to appoint technocrats to run the country following the assassination of opposition leader Chokri Belaid.
The ruling Ennahda party had rebuffed the plan of its secretary general and second-in-command.
The party, which is in coalition with two small secular parties, argued it had a mandate to govern after winning the country's first free elections in 2011.
Marzouki met with Ennahda's leader Rachid Ghannouchi and the leaders of other parties to discuss a way out of the deadlock, the president's office confirmed.
Ghannouchi said a new government could be formed "by the end of the week" and indicated that more parties than currently could be part of it.
Jebali's resignation is the latest twist in a political crisis that exploded with the killing of Belaid on February 6.