Sawan threatens to pull Justice & Construction ministers out of government

By Ahmed Elumami.

Tripoli, 28 October 2013:

The head of the Justice and Construction Party (J&C), Mohamed Sawan, has announced that the party . . .[restrict]is planning to withdraw its members from the government at any time.

Speaking in a call with Al-Naba TV channel on Sunday evening, Sawan said that his threat was real and that he was not making it purely for the sake of putting his party in the spotlight.

He again denied that the party was the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, Sawan said that there were members of the Brotherhood in it, but there were others who were not. The statement is seen as a reaction to the growing unpopularity of the Brotherhood throughout the country.

The party has several ministers and deputy ministers in the government, including Economy Minister Mustafa Abofanas, Ali Muhairiq (Electricity), Ali Hussein Al-Sharif (Housing), Almehdi Ataher Agnaia (Planning) and Abdulsalam Abdullah Guaila (Sports and Youth).

Stating that his party wanted a solution for the current political crisis in Libya, he claimed that it was driven by not party conflicts, rather bu a clash between two groups: those looking for “real change” as a result of the revolution and those who wanted to hold on to that they had gained under the Qaddafi regime.

The J&C has been pushing hard for the Prime Minister’s removal over the past two months. It has resulted in accusations of hypocrisy against it since there were never any calls for the government, including the J&C ministers, to be removed.  This is the first time that Sawan has indicated that they would go as well.

  [/restrict]