Libya State Council rejects eastern-based parliament’s withdrawal of confidence in government

Some 54 members of Libya’s State Council yesterday rejected the eastern- based parliament in Tobruk’s decision to withdraw confidence from the government and described it as a violation of the Constitutional Declaration and the Political Agreement.

A statement by the 54 members, of the body of 200, said the procedure for withdrawing confidence does not include the Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, given that he was not assigned by the House of Representatives.

Dbeibeh was elected by the Libyan Dialogue Forum during a meeting in Geneva in February 2021 under UN auspices. The House of Representatives later granted the government confidence.

Remarking on the draft constitution, the statement said some articles of the proposed constitutional amendment are full of gaps and ambiguities, which makes the mentioned periods undefined and unenforceable, stressing that “what had been issued by the House of Representatives regarding the constitutional amendment is an incomplete procedure until it is discussed and voted on.”

The statement added that the provisions of the proposed constitutional amendment were in violation of Article 12 of the Political Agreement and Article 36 of the Constitutional Declaration.

On 10 February, the House of Representatives withdrew confidence from the Prime Minister of the Government of National Unity, Abdel Hamid Dabaiba, and assigned Fathi Bashagha to form the government.

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