valet in libya

Libya's electoral body said on Saturday that it was ready to hold elections once a political agreement had been reached. US Ambassador Richard Norland met with Imad al-Sayeh, head of Libya's High National Electoral Commission (HNEC), to discuss developments in the crisis-stricken country. "It was encouraging to hear Dr. al-Sayeh confirm the HNEC's readiness to hold elections once a political agreement has been reached on the way forward," Norland was quoted as saying in a statement from the embassy.…

Libya's interim prime minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah announced plans for elections this summer, rejecting the eastern parliament's bid to oust him. Dbeibah, who heads the Government of National Unity (GNU) in the western part of the country, reiterated his promise to resign only after a national vote, defying the Eastern-based parliament's appointment of former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha to replace him as prime minister. Dbeibah also said that GNU will hold a parliamentary election followed by a…

Leaders and revolutionaries of the force that supports the Libyan army on Saturday condemned the election of Fathi Bashagha as head of the new government, a move that risks triggering a new power struggle in the war-torn nation. In a statement read on Martyrs' Square in the capital Tripoli, they said that the support force condemned "the absurd situation that contradicts the results of the political dialogue forum and wants the country to enter a new transition phase." Decisions taken in the House of…

On Thursday, the eastern parliament in war-torn Libya appointed a former interior minister as prime minister, a serious challenge for the administration of interim prime minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. "The House of Representatives unanimously approved Fathi Bashagha to lead the government," Parliamentary spokesman Abdullah Bliheg said in a tweet. The move threatens to trigger a new power struggle between the eastern-based assembly and the Dbeibah administration based in Tripoli, in western Libya. The…