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By Ashraf Abdul-Wahab.
Tripoli, 4 April 2103:
The General National Congress plans to vote on Sunday on a bill to reducie the quorum . . .[restrict]needed for a law to be passed. The present figure, set by the Constitutional Declaration passed by the former National Transitional Council, is 120. Congress is proposing to reduce this to 60.
Congress has found it difficult to operate with the relatively high threshold given that it not all members attend at any one point. In addition, 14 members have been disbarred by the Integrity Commission, and two have resigned, Prime Minister Ali Zeidan and Hassan Al-Amin, but the quorum still operates as if they are still in post.
Last Sunday, Congress was supposed to vote a second time on enabling the selection of the 60-member Constitutional Commission to be done by public election. However, there were insufficient members present to allow that to happen.
Congress had already voted for elections but this was effectively invalidated when in February the Supreme Court ruled that the NTC’s decision last July to have the Commission elected was unconstitutional because it had not been approved by a two-thirds majority and that Congress would also have to vote again on the issue for the same reason.
Sunday’s vote, to be effective, will require still 120 members to be present and voting. [/restrict]
