Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali of Tunisia has resigned.
He had been trying to form a new coalition in response to a political crisis sparked by the killing of an opposition lawyer on 6 February which provoked mass protests.
No one has claimed responsibility for the killing
Mr Jebali earlier said he would quit if the Ennahda party did not back his plan for a cabinet of technocrats.
"I vowed that if my initiative did not succeed, I would resign and ... I have already done so," he said on Tuesday after meeting President Moncef Marzouki.
The economy has been hit hard by disorder since the overthrow of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in 2011.
