Libya's new supreme legislative body will consist of two chambers, with their headquarters located in the eastern and western parts of the country. Chairman of the High State Council (HSC) Khaled al-Mishri announced this on Monday.
"The constitutional framework [for the general elections] involves the creation of a bicameral supreme legislative body," Libya Al Ahrar TV channel quoted him as saying. The head of the HSC explained that "one of them - the House of Representatives - will be based in the city of Benghazi [in eastern Libya], the other - the Senate - will be housed in Tripoli." This decision, al-Mishri explained, was taken in order to "create a political balance in the country."
He added that "members of the House of Representatives will be elected both on [party] lists and individually, and members of the Senate exclusively on an individual basis."
According to the constitutional framework, al-Mishri said, the executive branch will be represented by the president and the government. Moreover, he added, "the head of the cabinet will be appointed by the president of the country. It is stipulated that the presidential candidates, if they hold responsible positions in the country or are military officials, must resign before the elections. According to him, "no judicial decision should be made against future [presidential] candidates, even if it is not final."
Al-Mishri noted that "only one point of disagreement remains between the HSC and the Libyan House of Representatives (parliament) - on the issue of people with dual citizenship participating in the elections."
On January 5, the talks between al-Mishri and Speaker of the House of Representatives Aguila Saleh took place in Cairo. The parties, according to a joint statement, agreed to speed up finalizing the constitutional framework for the elections. According to the statement, "a joint committee of the parliament and the HSC, which is reviewing the constitutional platform, is sending the document to the House of Representatives and the HSC for its approval." At a press conference in Cairo, al-Mishri pointed out that "one or two points of the document on the constitutional platform remain unresolved between the parliament and the HSC".
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Photo: hakeem.gadi/GFDL 1.2
Based on materials from TASS