For the past year a caretakercabinet has kept things ticking over, he says, but it has been unable to make inroads on pressing problems such as the swelling deficit.
Mr Ashraf also promised that the forthcoming elections would be free and fair, and said he hoped the parties would reach consensus "amicably" on which of the rival candidates should head the caretakercabinet.
Late Wednesday, Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, head of the moderate religious party Ennahda, sacked his Cabinet and called for new elections, leaving himself at the head of a caretaker government.