The UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) received a heavy blow after it failed to obtain the confidence of the Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR) in a vote held on Monday.
The Presidency Council (PC) was approved under condition that its members are limited to eight Ministers. One hundred and one member of the 198 parliamentarians were present; making it the first time that a quorum was reached in five months.
A spokesman at the HoR, Adam Boussakhra, said “the majority of the lawmakers at the parliament session voted no confidence in the government.” Results showed that 61 voted against, 39 abstained and only a single MP has confidence in the GNA.
Those who were absent at the session claimed foul play because they were not informed of the changes made to the agenda, which only contained a number of HoR procedures and the proposed constitution from the Constitution Drafting Assembly. Their complains were downplayed by Ali al-Marimi, spokesman of President Ageela Salah of the HoR, who claimed that the vote of confidence was scheduled for a previous session which didn’t take place and shifting it to the next one was a legitimate move.
Some of the absentees are reported to have been boycotting parliamentary sessions while those who abstained during the voting are mainly parliamentarians who stepped out of the hall in protest to the holding of the vote.
Faiez Serraj is the president of the PC and also doubles as the Prime Minister-designate of the GNA. He has not reacted to the outcome of the much-delayed vote but there are fears that it could worsen the political crisis because the powerful Misrata lobby group and its forces support the GNA cabinet.
Under the Libyan Political Agreement reached in Morocco last year, the HoR has the right to approve or disapprove the government but the circumstances surrounding the vote could weather the parliament as some of the MPs who were absent support the GNA that now has all its decisions invalidated.
