Habib Lassoued
The eastern region has its territory, its borders and government as well as its army, parliament, regional and international relations and sources of wealth.
The Presidential Council’s attempt to hold a referendum on the status of House of Representatives will only accelerate division.
Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, left, and head of the Presidential Council of Libya Mohamed al-Menfi arrive for a conference in Paris, November 12, 2021. AP
The head of the Presidential Council, Mohamed Younis Al-Menfi, seemed to be acting under the influence of his advisors, who revolve around Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah, when he decided to establish the High Commission for Referendum and National Survey.
His undeclared aim was to unleash a showdown with the House of Representatives and destroy the remaining bridges of communication between Tripoli and Benghazi.
Someone speaking on his behalf explained that his objective was to push for a popular withdrawal of confidence from the House of Representatives through an electronic referendum, as if he really believed that the parliament could self-dissolve if the people voted against it.
What is certain is that the authorities of the eastern region are eager to exploit any mistake by the Presidential Council and its backers in Tripoli. They want to forge ahead with the shaping of a new political landscape by reversing all decisions aimed at unifying Libyan institutions.
They are pushing for a referendum among inhabitants of the eastern and southern regions to establish a federal mode of government and a system of distribution of wealth, which would be consistent with the current trends in Benghazi, where the features of an independent state are already emerging. The eastern region has its territory, its borders and government as well as its army, parliament, regional and international relations and sources of wealth.
The best tool to accommodate this trend may be a federal system according to the 1951 constitution. The Presidential Council’s attempt to hold a referendum on the status of House of Representatives will only accelerate division.
The head of the Government of National Unity, which controls only about 20 percent of Libya’s geography, came out a few hours after the successful the municipal elections, to announce the merger of some of the municipalities by turning them into branches of other municipalities.
The head of the Benghazi-based government appointed by the House of Representatives, Osama Hamad, accused Dbeibah of “attempting to destabilise the country and spread chaos”.
Hamad called on all public bodies and institutions “not to implement or disseminate the decisHabibions as they are legally null and void,” urging the High Elections Commission to “complete the organisation of elections of the remaining municipal councils according to the administrative districting of the municipalities and their affiliated branches.”
In principle, Dbeibah’s decision will not be carried through except in a small part of the western region. It will not be heeded in the east and south of the country, thus adding to dozens, if not hundreds, of decisions issued by the GNU over the past few years which ended up in the trash can due to their author’s lack of means to enforce them.
Moreover, Dbeibah’s decision, which was announced a few hours after municipal elections, which everyone saw as successful, whether in terms of security and organisation or in terms of voter turnout, was a deliberately disruptive move that raises many questions about his political intent.
All Libya watchers find themselves observing an essentially amateurish political elite that is only professional in conspiring to ensure its survival and preserve the privileges of power.
There is a face-off today between two figures competing for the presidency of the State Council, despite the fact that they were elected in 2012 as members of Libya’s first parliament, the General National Congress, and later maintained that membership by recycling the Islamist movement through the Skhirat Libyan Political Agreement concluded in December 2015.
We are facing a House of Representatives, which was elected in 2014 and continues its activities without any qualms, although new elections were supposed to be held five years ago.
The Presidential Council and Dbeibah’s GNU came to power based on a political agreement concluded in November 2020 and which set a deadline of eight months for them from March to December 2021 to hold presidential and parliamentary elections under the supervision of the United Nations. At best, their legitimacy expired after 18 months of their election by the Political Dialogue Forum.
Everything that was supposed to be temporary in Libya ended up being permanent. All emergency decisions have become a fixed rule. All of Libya is now in the hands of a group of people who behave as if the country is their family property.
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Habib Lassoued is a Tunisian writer.
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