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By Libya Herald reporters.
Tunis, 27 September 2017:
After two days of talks, draft amendments to the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA) will tomorrow be examined by the main Libya Dialogue delegations from the House of Representatives (HoR) and the State Council (SC)
UNSMIL, which is hosting the meetings in Tunis, said they had been held in a positive and collaborative spirt. Since Monday a joint drafting committee has been working on the changes to the LPA . These focus in the main on the structure and responsibilities of the Presidency Council (PC) and the Government of National Accord.
It appears to have been generally accepted that membership of the PC should be cut from its present unwieldy nine to three, representing the three core Libyan regions in the west, east and south.
The main sticking point until now has been the LPA’s Article 8 which transfers the power to appoint military chiefs and the heads of the Central Bank of Libya and the Libya Investment Authority from the parliament to the PC .
It is also likely that the SC delegates are pressing for a stronger role for their body. The LPA envisaged a largely consultative function for the SC and stipulated that it should be composed of former members of the old parliament, the GNC, who had been elected in 2012.
The drafting committee’s work will now be considered by the two main delegations. No indication has been given as to where or indeed if there has been any agreement on the contentious issues.
