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By Sami Zaptia.
London, 9 June 2016:
The president of the House of Representatives (HoR) Ageela Salah has called for a meeting of . . .[restrict]the legislative body for Monday 13th June in Tobruk.
Salah said that the session would be held to vote on Faiez Serraj’s Government of National Accord (GNA) as well as on the constitutional amendment. He also called on all the Presidency Council to be present at the HoR in Tobruk.
Speaking anonymously, an HoR member today confirmed to Libya Herald the news, adding that it’s the 4th time that Salah has called for a session, with this being the first written call for a session.
Asked if there would be a quorum of members to hold an official session, the member was doubtful. Moreover, he did not believe that the supporters of the GNA now have the required majority or even the 100 members they previously had. He, therefore, did not think they would turn up for a vote.
Asked why in that case did Salah call for a session, the HoR member said that Salah called for the session in order to disprove accusations that he was responsible for the failure of an HoR vote.
Equally, the HoR member added, so as to expose the fact that the GNA supporters did not have the required support to pass a vote on the GNA and that they were hiding behind the fig leaf of Salah acting as the ‘’spoiler’’.
It will be recalled that Salah currently faces EU sanctions based on the accusation that he is acting as the ‘’spoiler’’ of the LPA and an HoR vote on the GNA.
Equally, UNSMIL head Martin Kobler on his 6th June Libya briefing to the UN Security Council exerted continued pressure on Salah and the HoR by again calling for a vote on the GNA.
A constitutional amendment by the HoR is needed in order to make the LPA legal and part of the Transitional Constitutional Agreement (TCD) of August 2011. The HoR was elected under the auspices of the TCD in the form of an amendment by the February committee of the General National Congress (GNC).
During the Libyan revolution of 2011 the unelected political leaders of that revolution – the National Transitional Council (NTC) – who had received international recognition, had announced the TCD as a political road map and social contract with the Libyan people. The TCD laid out a timeline for elections for interim/transitional legislatures as well as full democratic elections and the drafting of a Libyan constitution.
Libya has held two elections for two interim legislatures, the GNC in 2012 and the HoR in 2014. However, both have failed to reach a stage of voting on a draft constitution and thereafter elections for a fully empowered legislature, as prescribed in the TCD. [/restrict]
