The election of Al-Salihin Abdul Nabi as the new Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives, succeeding Aguila Saleh, opens the door to a new test of the relationship of the legislative institution with the Supreme Council of State, in light of a direct call from the new leadership to resume dialogue between the two councils.
This came as the dispute over the “4+4” committee remains one of the most prominent files between the “Representatives” and the “state,” which may determine the form of this relationship and the course of the political process during the next stage between two councils that have long been known as political rivals since the establishment of the second under the “Skhirat Agreement” in 2015, according to observers.
Abdel Nabi expressed openness to a dialogue with the Supreme Council of State, saying in a television interview with the local Al-Massar channel on Thursday: “Our doors are open to (the State Council) and its members,” calling for engaging in “a serious dialogue to reach elections.”
The new president of the “Representatives” went on to express the council’s readiness to meet with members of the “Council of State” “anywhere in the country.” The Council also called for opening a direct channel of communication “without an intermediary,” and working to overcome differences to reach the electoral entitlement.
This openness comes at a time when Abdel Nabi is committed to supporting the outputs of the “4+4” mini-dialogue committee, which aims to complete the legislative and technical path leading to the elections, while the Supreme Council of State still rejects the committee’s outputs.
Member of the House of Representatives, Fahmi Al-Tawati, believes that the opportunities for rapprochement between the two chambers have become “greater during the next stage,” considering that the new presidency of the House is required to benefit from the parliamentary experiences that Libya has gone through since 2011, and to work in a “professional and institutional” manner, so that the House of Representatives is an inclusive space for Libyans with their various orientations.
Al-Tawati told Asharq Al-Awsat that the tasks of the House of Representatives, according to the Constitutional Declaration, include supervising the referendum on the constitution and organizing the upcoming elections, in addition to exercising the usual powers of parliaments, but he stressed the need for the legislative institution at the current stage to take into account regional and international interactions, taking into account the interests of brotherly and friendly countries, in a way that preserves Libya’s sovereignty, security and interests.
The internal and external relations of the Libyan House of Representatives are still being tested by its new presidency, headed by Abdel Nabi, who was elected on Tuesday during a session held in Benghazi, succeeding Aguila Saleh, in a scene marked by controversy.
According to this assessment, there are those who believe that the unity of the House of Representatives behind its new presidency and not its division would open the door to understandings with the Supreme Council of State regarding key files, including the formation of a new government, rearranging the status of the High National Elections Commission, and completing legislation related to the electoral process, according to Al-Senussi Ismail, the former advisor to the President of the Supreme Council of State.
Ismail recalls the rapprochement that brought together Saleh and the head of the Supreme Council of State, Mohamed Takala, in Ankara recently, and their agreement to resume the meetings of the “6+6” committee to complete the controversial matters related to electoral laws.
However, that path faltered after the House of Representatives adopted the “4+4” agreement, concluding that recent developments make it difficult to envision a major consensus between the two chambers, at a time when the possibilities of exceeding their role within any political path sponsored by the United Nations are increasing.
On this basis, Ismail raises the possibility that the United Nations may resort to “collecting individual signatures from members of the Supreme Council of State” on the points required in the “road map,” similar to the approach followed during the “Skhirat Agreement,” which may weaken the influence of the presidencies of the two councils.
The “4+4” agreement, signed last August, proposed arrangements aimed at unifying institutions, restructuring the Council of the High National Elections Commission, and holding presidential and legislative elections within a period not exceeding 24 months, while introducing amendments to the rules regulating presidential candidacy.
Former General National Congress member Abdel Moneim Al-Yaseer sets a broader ceiling for testing the new phase, considering that the future of the Houses of Representatives and the Supreme Council of State in Libya “will be determined by their ability to end the transitional phase, and not by merely changing the leadership.”
Al-Yaseer believes in a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat that “changing the presidency of the House of Representatives may provide a window of hope to move the political process forward, but it is not sufficient to address a deeper crisis related to the continuation of the transitional institutions and their connection to the balance of power and interests.” He presented two possibilities for this: “The change will lead to the restoration of institutional work and improve coordination with the (Council of State), or it will turn into a new dispute over legitimacy and representation that will lead to more complexity.”
It seems that the real test for the Presidency of the House of Representatives will be the extent of the independence of its decisions, the transparency of its procedures, and what it actually achieves by holding the elections, according to Al-Yaseer, who indicated that the role of the House is supposed to focus on completing the necessary legislation and exercising oversight, while the Supreme Council of State continues its advisory and consensual role.
Al-Yusir concluded by saying that the value of the two councils in the future “will be measured by the extent of their ability to prepare the transfer of power to institutions that derive their legitimacy from the Libyans,” considering that “renewing the presidency of an institution is not equivalent to renewing its popular mandate.”
