Libya’s eastern-based parliament on Tuesday listed a series of criteria that candidates need to meet in order to be eligible to serve as the country’s next prime minister, reported CGTN Africa. The list follows calls being made to replace interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. The move comes a month after UN-sponsored presidential elections were delayed.
In a statement published on Facebook, Abdullah Blehig, the parliament spokesman, said the conditions for the premiership were approved in the presence of Speaker Aguila Saleh, his first and second deputies, and 120 deputies in the 200-seat parliament.
According to the statement, Libya’s next prime minister must not be a foreign citizen, must resign from their current public position, and must sign a pledge not to run for the upcoming elections.
Prime Minister Dbeibah’s interim government came to power a year ago to replace two warring parallel administrations that ruled in east and west. The Government of National Unity was selected by the UN-sponsored Libyan Political Dialogue Forum in February 2021, ending years of political division in the North African country.
The parliamentary and presidential elections were scheduled to be held on December 24, but preparations for the vote fell apart over disagreements about fundamental rules including the eligibility of some main candidates.
The political planning committee, which was set up to look after the election process, presented its report to parliament on Monday, saying it would take at least nine months to prepare for a new election to avoid fraud and ensure security. It also proposed a vote in parliament on Tuesday to elect a new prime minister.
On Monday, Saleh said the current Government of National Unity led by Dbeibah had expired with the election date and called for a new interim government to be established in Tripoli. In September last year, the House of Representatives withdrew confidence from the Government of National Unity and made it a caretaker government.
