TRIPOLI, LIBYA - FEBRUARY 10: Libya's newly-chosen Prime Miniater Fathi Bashagha speaks to the press upon arrival at Mitiga Airport in Libya, Tripoli on February 10, 2022. The Libyan House of Representatives on Thursday voted by majority for former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha to become the country's new prime minister. (Photo by Hazem Turkia/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Abigail Okunade
A spokesperson for Libya’s chamber on Thursday said the parliament session to swear in the newly chosen administration will go ahead despite the likely absence of some members, who he said can take the oath later.
TOS NEWS reported that Fathi Bashagha declared as prime minister by the parliament speaker after a televised vote by 92 of 101 members present in the chamber on Tuesday.
Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah who was installed through a U.N.-backed process in 2021 vowed not to cede power following the vote, raising the risk of fighting among armed factions or territorial partition between rival administrations.
Bashagha who was due to take the oath of office in Tobruk, complained late on Wednesday that Dbeibah had cut off Libyan airspace to prevent ministers in the new government from attending.
In the early hours of Thursday, his office alleged two ministers were abducted as they tried to travel by land.
A standoff between two rival governments in Libya could result to a growing risk of fighting or a return to territorial division.
Libya has had little peace or security since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising against Muammar Gaddafi and it split in 2014 between rival governments based in Tripoli, in the west, and in the east where the parliament is based.
Installed through a U.N.-backed peace process in 2021, Dbeibah’s government was aimed at resolving political problems through an election, but the vote did not take place amid arguments over the rules.
Ever since, the parliament in an attempt to take control of the process said Dbeibah’s term had expired and it was setting a course towards a referendum on an altered constitution and then elections in 2023.
Dbeibah has rejected the parliament’s stance and says he is planning to hold national elections in June. Both sides blame each other for the failure of December’s election and accuse each other of lacking legitimacy.
The U.N. secretary general’s spokesperson said in an emailed statement there were reports that Tuesday’s vote were not up to transparency and procedure standards, and of acts of intimidation before the session.
The United Nations and foreign powers that have avoided any definitive statement on which administration should now be seen as legitimate, and have instead pushed for quick elections.
U.N. Libya adviser Stephanie Williams is expected to soon invite the parliament and an opposing political body, the High Council of State, for talks.
