Saleh’s position came in a statement in which he declared that he did not take into account the law of the session held today, considering it to be an informal session with no legal effect. He said that the meeting was held despite the invitation made by the Council Presidency to hold an official session on Tuesday, October 6.
Saleh explained that any procedures, decisions or outputs that may be issued by today’s meeting lack legal support, due to failure to follow the procedures and controls stipulated in the law and the internal regulations of the House of Representatives, stressing that what happened does not acquire the status of an official session of the House.
This comes after a session chaired by the Second Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Misbah Douma, in the absence of Aguila Saleh, during which Douma announced the freezing of the work of the Presidency of the House of Representatives until a session is held headed by the oldest member to elect a new Speaker of Parliament to succeed Aguila Saleh.
During the session, the House of Representatives voted to adopt the parliamentary session system for the Office of the Presidency by a majority of 98 votes out of 102 representatives who attended the session, provided that the term of office for the Office of the Presidency is 12 months from the date of its election, and ends upon the expiry of this period, according to what was announced by the Council’s spokesman, Abdullah Belhaq.
He also announced the suspension of the session in preparation for the election of a new presidency within seven days, in a step that opens the door to changing the current leadership of the Council. However, this step faces rejection from Aguila Saleh and a number of representatives who question the legality of the procedures that were followed during today’s meeting.
The Libyan News Agency indicated that there were representatives who considered the session invalid due to the prior call to hold an official session on Tuesday.
In a simultaneous position, the First Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Fawzi Al-Nuwairi, announced his support for Aguila Saleh’s position regarding today’s session, stressing that the meeting’s outcomes do not acquire the status of House of Representatives decisions unless they meet the legal procedures, quorum, and the prescribed majority.
Al-Nuwairi said that Aguila Saleh had called for an official session on Tuesday, the agenda of which included discussing the amendment of the internal regulations and approving the parliamentary session, considering that these items should have been discussed during a session that met the conditions for convening and voting.
In his statement, Al-Nuwairi affirmed his support for reforming the House’s internal regulations and activating oversight and accountability, but at the same time he stressed that reform does not justify bypassing legal procedures, and that preserving the unity of the House of Representatives does not mean disrupting the path of reform.
Aguila Saleh had invited members of the House of Representatives to an official session in Benghazi on Tuesday, October 6, to discuss amending Law No. 4 of 2014 and including a parliamentary session, in addition to discussing the constitutionality of the laws submitted by the mini-dialogue committee “4+4” and the possibility of including them in the Constitutional Declaration.
In the wake of the developments, Saleh announced the cancellation of the Tuesday session that he had called, while confirming that the meeting held today does not represent an official session of the Council and will not result in binding decisions.
Thus, the dispute within the House of Representatives turns to a legal and procedural issue related to the validity of today’s session and its outcomes, at a time when the representatives participating in the session adhere to the measures they took to open the way for the election of a new Presidency, while Aguila Saleh and Al-Nuwairi refuse to rely on them, which makes the future of the Council’s Presidency a matter of dispute within Parliament.
