Libya's unity comes first, and laws must be accepted by citizens: Libyan Parliament's Speaker

CAIRO - 13 June 2023: The Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh, said that the House of Representatives has amended the Constitutional Declaration No. 13 to include the formation of a committee of six from the House of Representatives and six from the State Council to draft it or submit a proposal for the presidential and parliamentary elections law.

 

And he added, during a special TV interview with the journalist Ahmed Abu Zaid, that it is known that the House of Representatives has long ago issued the laws for electing both the president and the House of Representatives, explaining that this committee is concerned with introducing amendments, or doing cancelations or replacements to the proposal.

 

 

He pointed out that the tasks of this committee are to present this proposal to the House of Representatives, and accordingly the House of Representatives issues it, and neither the Speaker of the House of Representatives nor the President of the Council of State have any legal authority over these committees, but out of political leadership and out of interest or out of the matter that laws must be accepted by citizens.  

 

"Libya is in exceptional circumstances. We do not want to marginalize or expel anyone. We want the ballot box to be the arbiter among the Libyans, and to know their opinion through the ballot boxes," he said. "What reached us is a draft consisting of 89 articles; this draft is under study by the members of 6 + 6 committee, and what the members agreed upon officially reaches us until this moment."

 

He explained that he was asked to go to Morocco, in fact, no written agreement was presented to us from the two parties.

 

 

 

"This formed committee is independent, and it discusses its findings with the House of Representatives," he added. 

 

Aguila Saleh made it clear that he objected to the existence of a compulsory second round in the presidential elections, because "when a candidate gets 50% + 1 of the votes, it means he become the elected president by law, then what is the justification for a second round? We have come to suspect that the subject of the debate is a prolongation and perhaps an attempt at intervention."

 

 

 

Counselor Aguila Saleh, Speaker of the Libyan Parliament, confirmed that there is agreement that the head of state should not hold the nationality of another country, explaining that the House of Representatives has amended Constitutional Declaration No. 13, which includes the formation of the 6 + 6 committee, and that the last committee is concerned with submitting proposals to House of Representatives on elections.

 

Saleh called, during an exclusive interview with the journalist Ahmed Abu Zaid, on the “Al-Qahira News” TV channel Monday, to withhold the election results if a dual national won the presidency, so that the dual-national candidate would give up the non-Libyan nationality.

 

 

 

He further explained that laws change according to the conditions and interests of society, and we want to reach acceptable legislation, and we suggested that the military be considered resigned from their positions as soon as they run for elections.

 

He stated that the 6 + 6 committee continues its work, adding that there is acceptance of the proposal to form an interim government whose mission is limited to supervising the elections.

 

 

 

Aguila stressed that the formation of the interim government is "a first step towards holding elections; because its mission is to secure, organize and finance the voting process," pointing out that they agree that the next president of Libya should not hold any foreign nationality in addition to his Libyan nationality.

 

Counselor Aguila Saleh, Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives, said that in the event of any defect affecting the election process, it must be confronted, pointing out that the "elections aim at stability, control of the country and ensuring people’s freedom, and the worst thing in Libya now is holding elections that may fail."

 

 

 

 

Saleh explained, during the interview, that the House of Representatives carried out its constitutional basis, assigning the 6 + 6 committee, and the laws were issued and already existed, adding that the interest of Libya and preserving its unity is higher and more important than the laws, and after the elections, the president takes over the formation of the government.

 

The Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives indicated that everyone must unite to elect a president, then set legislation through the House of Representatives, hold reconciliation and form a government.