Libyan Parliament Prepares to Participate in UN Initiative

Tripoli, 24 Mar The Libyan House of Representatives (eastern) reversed and agreed to select representatives to participate in the joint committee together with the Higher Council of the State (west) in an initiative sponsored by the United Nations to resume the electoral process. However, Parliament affirmed its commitment to the roadmap it adopted a month earlier and which included in the appointment of former Minister of the Interior, Fathi Bashagha, to replace the Government of National Unity (GNU), led since February 2021 by Abdelhamid Dbeibah, after considering that his mandate has expired. In an interview with the television channel “Sky News Arabia”, Deputy Abdel Moneim Al Arfi, assured that there will be no elections before 14 months, as defended by the acting Executive, who refuses to leave office without going through the polls on June 30. The Association of Trade Unions, Assemblies, Councils and Civil Society Organizations today called on the Presidential Council - a collegiate body that serves as head of state - to freeze the two opposing chambers and issue a decree to hold a constitutional referendum and elections before the end of summer. “Local pressure must increase to pressure UNSMIL, the Presidential Council, the National High Electoral Commission and the Government of National Unity to allow the Presidential Council to assume legislative authority in electoral matters,” the collective added in a statement collected by the local newspaper “The Libya Observer”. Bashagha accused the rival government on Wednesday of usurping power and occupying state headquarters in Tripoli, as well as taking advantage of his administration's attitude to prevent violence and military escalation after Dbeibah-related security forces prevented him weeks earlier from entering the capital. In early March, the UN Special Mission to Libya (UNSMIL) proposed a new initiative to bring positions closer between the east and west of the country through a committee made up of representatives of both chambers in order to reach a constitutional basis before April that would allow elections to be held as soon as possible. Given the silence of Parliament, the committee began consultations last Monday in the Tunisian capital with the head of UNSMIL, Stephanie Williams, waiting for the rest of the representatives to join “in the coming days”. The transition process faces a new schism in the legislative branch, as happened in 2014 with the UN-supported Government of National Accord (GNA) in Tripoli (west); and another one based in the city of Tobruk (east), under the tutelage of Marshal Khalifa Hafter, the country's strongman. After the Electoral Commission postponed the presidential elections on 24 December only 48 hours after the count, Parliament considers that Dbeibah's mandate expired after failing to achieve its task: to unify national bodies, maintain the ceasefire and hold elections. Libya is a failed state, a victim of chaos and civil war, since in 2011 NATO contributed to the victory of the various rebel groups against the despot Muammar al-Qaddafi, in power for 42 years. CHIEF mak-nrm/cd