The Libyan House of Representatives on Thursday voted by majority for former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha to become the country's new prime minister, Libya's official spokesman for the House of Representatives, Abdullah Blikhak, told TASS.
Earlier, Libya's Supreme Council of State, which is considered a de facto second chamber of parliament with a consultative function with the dominant Islamists, endorsed Bashagha as the sole candidate after another candidate, Khaled al-Bibas, executive director of the Libyan Masarat IT company, withdrew his candidacy. Moreover, according to experts, al-Bibas did not meet the conditions for nomination. Former Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Maiteeq has also withdrawn his claim to the premiership.
This act of parliament threatens to provoke a new round of internal conflict in the country and lead again to dual power, as current Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh is warning against, who is not going to resign. The confrontation between the legislative and executive powers of the country began when Speaker of the Parliament Aguila Saleh started pushing for the election of a new head of government, insisting that Dbeibeh's term expired on December 24 last year, when the presidential and parliamentary elections were to be held in the country. Dbeibeh had repeatedly stated that he would hand over the reins of power to his successor only after the general elections in the country, the date of which had not yet been determined. He accused Saleh of trying to divide the country again.
Dbeibeh and the composition of Libya's Presidential Council were approved at the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum in Switzerland a year ago. According to the developed roadmap presidential and parliamentary elections were scheduled for December 24, 2021, in Libya, the executive authorities were to prepare for them within a year and to resign on the same day after the vote. However, after the postponement of the elections the Cabinet continued its work. Moreover, a number of Western countries supported Dbeiba's government, which provoked a sharp negative reaction of lawmakers, who considered it as interference in the internal politics of the country.
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Photo: AP/TASS
Based on materials from TASS