Libya’s east-based parliament on Thursday appointed a new prime minister, a development that counters U.N. efforts to reconcile the divided country and one that will likely produce two parallel administrations.
The House of Representatives said its decision followed the incumbent premier's failure to hold national elections in December, something that was agreed to under a U.N.-mediated peace process. The lack of elections has been a major blow to international efforts to end a decade of chaos in the oil-rich Mediterranean nation.
However, the move is expected to deepen divisions between rival factions in the war-stricken country. Libya has been wrecked by conflict since the NATO-backed uprising toppled then killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011. The country has for years been split between rival administrations in the east and west, each supported by militias and foreign governments.
East-based lawmakers named Thursday former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha to replace Abdul Hamid Dbeibah as head of a new interim government, according to the parliament spokesman, Abdullah Bliheg. However, Dbeibah is unlikely to cede power to the parliament's pick.
Shortly before the vote, Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh told lawmakers in a televised session that Bashagha has become the sole candidate for the post and that another contender, Khalid al-Baibas, had pulled out.
Bashagha was expected to deliver a public speech from Mitiga Airport later on Thursday, according to his media team.
A former air force pilot and businessman, Bashagha submitted his candidacy for the presidency last year. The 59-year-old politician stands as a powerful figure in western Libya. During his tenure as interior minister from 2018 until early 2021, he cultivated ties with Turkey, France and the United States, but also with Egypt and Russia, which backed his nominal rivals in the intra-Libyan conflict.
He is also believed to have links to armed militias in the western city of Misrata that played a key role in defending the capital against a 2019 military offensive from the east. That offensive was led by the self-styled Libyan Arab Armed Forces, commanded by the east-based powerful Khalifa Hifter. The force welcomed the parliament's move on Thursday.
Libya was to hold presidential elections on Dec. 24, but the vote was postponed over disputes between the rival factions on laws governing the elections and controversial presidential hopefuls. East-based lawmakers have argued that the mandate of Dbeibah’s government ended on that date.
On Wednesday, hundreds took to the streets in the capital of Tripoli to protest the parliament’s decision to name a new premier. Dbeibah warned that his dismissal would lead the country back to “division and chaos” after nearly two years of relative calm. He said that he would only relinquish his post to an elected government.
Earlier on Thursday, local media reported that Dbeibah had survived an assassination attempt after unknown assailants opened fire at his car in Tripoli. The reports could not be independently confirmed and there was no comment from Dbeibah or his office on the alleged attack.
Dbeibah, a powerful businessman from Misrata, was appointed prime minister in February last year as part of the U.N.-brokered, Western-backed political process. His government’s main task was to steer the divided country toward national reconciliation and lead it through elections. The vote was the lynchpin of U.N.-mediated efforts to bring peace to the oil-rich North African nation.
But the incumbent prime minister became a polarizing figure since he announced his presidential bid, breaking his pledge not to run in elections when he was appointed as an interim prime minister.
Dbeibah has said that he is in consultations over a new roadmap to hold elections in June, a date the U.N. mission in Libya seeks to reschedule the vote.
Western governments have urged that the current government remain in place until the vote is held to avoid chaos and confusion.
During Thursday's session, held in the eastern Libyan city of Tobruk, lawmakers also voted in favor of a set of constitutional amendments that put forward a new roadmap for the country’s transition to a democratically elected government. The amendments envisage the creation of a new electoral commission and the appointment of a 24-member committee, representing the country’s all three regions, to draft a new constitution.
