The dispute escalated again in Libya between the House of Representatives and the State, regarding the path leading to elections, after the House of Representatives approved a package of laws and decisions to amend the electoral framework and reconstitute the Election Commission, in a move that the Supreme Council of State considered to be a violation of the path of consensus between the two institutions, and responded to it by adhering to the outcomes of the “6+6” committee and rejecting the “4+4” path.
On Monday, the House of Representatives, headed by Aguila Saleh, issued Law No. 4 of 2026 amending the President’s Election Law No. 28 of 2023, and Law No. 3 of 2026 regarding elections for the House of Representatives, in addition to Law No. 5 of 2026 amending the Law of the High Electoral Commission. It also issued decisions related to the adoption of the “4+4” agreement and the restructuring of the Council of the Commission.
These steps place the House of Representatives in direct confrontation with the Supreme Council of State regarding the direction and path through which electoral laws should be amended, at a time when the United Nations mission is pushing towards implementing the “4+4” agreement as part of the “road map” towards the elections.
It is clear from the House of Representatives' move that it was not limited to amending some articles of the Presidential Elections Law, but rather included the rules regulating the parliamentary elections and the Board of Elections Commission.
On the other hand, the Supreme Council of State, headed by Mohamed Takala, affirmed in a statement, on Monday evening, that holding presidential and parliamentary elections and ending the transitional phase represent a national entitlement whose origin is undisputed, but stressed that “access to elections should not be separated from the soundness of the constitutional and legal basis, or from ensuring the acceptance of its rules and results from various national institutions and forces.”
The statement explained that the thirteenth constitutional amendment created a participatory path between the two chambers through the “6+6” committee, and that the road map adopted by the presidencies of the two chambers and the Presidential Council on June 18, 2026 emphasized building on the existing electoral framework.
The Supreme Council stressed that its objection “does not stem from a rejection of the principle of elections or a desire to delay them, but rather from the necessity of fundamental amendments to the rules, conditions, and deadlines of competition to be made through an agreed-upon institutional path,” warning against the rules themselves turning into a new cause of disagreement.
He considered that the “4+4” agreement still needs to complete its institutional and legal path, and called on the House of Representatives to complete consultations, and the United Nations mission to exercise its facilitation role in a manner that respects Libyan institutions, stressing its readiness for any serious dialogue that leads to stable electoral rules and unified executive authority.
According to local observers, this dispute constitutes the core of the current escalation, as “6+6” is the committee established by the two chambers to prepare electoral laws, and in 2023 it issued laws for electing the head of state and the National Assembly. As for “4+4”, it is a newer mechanism within the road map facilitated by the United Nations mission, and its participants signed an agreement in Tripoli at the end of last month regarding steps, including addressing the legal framework for the elections and restructuring the Council of the Commission. The House of Representatives supported the “4+4” agreement, while the “state” rejected it.
The United Nations mission previously welcomed the House of Representatives’ support for the agreement, and considered addressing the legal framework and restructuring the commission among the basic steps in the road map. The UN Security Council also welcomed the agreement and called for it to receive broader support from the Libyan parties.
The “unified salary scale” in Libya has returned to the forefront with the escalation of protests and factional strikes, amid controversy between considering it a step towards achieving wage justice, and fears that its implementation will lead to an increase in the burdens of the general budget.
The House of Representatives says that it will reconsider the unified salary schedule for state employees, as supporters see it as a step that “establishes absent social justice,” by unifying salaries according to qualifications and job grade, without distinction between different government sectors, which may limit popular anger and strikes in the future.
On the other hand, experts warn that implementing the schedule in isolation from structural reforms, and limiting it to raising the salaries of junior and mid-level employees, “will increase pressure on an already burdened budget as a result of the expansion of spending by the two governments contesting power.”
For years, Libya has been experiencing a division between the interim “national unity” government, headed by Abdul Hamid Al-Dabaiba in Tripoli, and another headed by Osama Hammad, which runs the east and part of the south, charged by Parliament and supported by the commander of the “National Army,” Khalifa Haftar.
Observers of the strikes in Libya attribute the low salaries, as the largest segment ranges between 1,500 and 3,000 dinars per month, and is seen as “no longer sufficient to buy basic goods,” in light of the Libyan market’s reliance on imports to a large extent, and merchants’ pricing of their goods according to the price of the dollar in the parallel market, which is close to 10 dinars, while the dollar is equal to 6.39 dinars in the official market.
“Corrective step”
Member of the Economic Committee of the Supreme Council of State, Saeed Wanis, describes the schedule as a “corrective and necessary step” that will achieve justice among state workers, regulate the salary file and stop its inflation due to recent increases, “most of which were characterized by randomness and lack of study.”
In his interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, Wanis pointed to widespread warnings from economic officials that “the salaries item will jump to about 100 billion dinars by the end of the year if the increases continue as a result of each sector’s demand to raise its salaries,” warning that the continuation of this path may lead to oil export revenues, the main source of the country’s income, becoming insufficient to cover the salaries item, let alone the rest of the budget.
According to Central Bank data, spending on salaries (Part One) exceeded 73 billion dinars in 2025, and reached nearly 46 billion during the first seven months of the current year.
The current year witnessed broad increases in the salaries of three sectors: administrative control, then the army with a modified schedule approved three months ago by 150 percent, making it a “standard” that the rest of the institutions demanded to be equal to, and finally the Oil Facilities Guard, which Al-Dabaiba equated with the army a few days ago to end threats to close the fields.
Wanis believes that implementing the schedule with the “Your Momentary Salary” system adopted by the Central Bank, which is linked electronically to the national number, “will eliminate widespread corruption such as job duplication and fictitious names, and give the decision-maker a true picture of the number of litigants and the size of the amounts required.”
“relative justice”
On the other hand, Dr. Abdul Hamid Al-Fadil, professor of economics at the University of Misrata, believed that the country’s budget “can no longer bear any increases in general” in light of the extensive spending of the “Unity” and Hammad governments during the past four years.
Although he acknowledged that the wide disparity in salaries was what sparked the protests, Al-Fadil warned in a statement to Asharq Al-Awsat that any increase would lead to additional encroachment on salaries, which devours approximately 65 percent of public spending.
He believed that “the positive application of the table must focus on redistributing wages in a way that achieves relative justice, that is, increasing low wages, specifically those below the poverty line, and reducing high wages.”
Al-Fadil stressed that the schedule “is not a magic solution to save the citizen from his suffering, but rather a step that must coincide with other steps to address the economic situation.” He said: “It is necessary to reform the staff, fight fictitious credits to provide foreign currency, and fight fuel smuggling and oil exports outside legal frameworks, which led to a decline in revenues despite the rise in global prices.”
He warned that the state, due to its expectation of being unable to impose the schedule on everyone, “may be satisfied with raising the salaries of the low sectors by 60 to 70 percent, and also keep the high salaries of the army, the sovereign and legislative bodies, and the judicial and diplomatic corps, which may jump the salary bill to 90 or 100 billion dinars annually.”
“Polarization centers”
For his part, the former Minister of Economic Affairs, Salama Al-Ghawil, confirmed that the table may address “the stark differences, as a graduate of the same college and university in one of the ministries earns about 2,000 dinars, while his colleague in a sovereign or judicial body, with the same tasks, receives 14 thousand dinars per month.”
Al-Ghawil told Asharq Al-Awsat that money “may not be the main and only obstacle, compared to the resistance of those who enjoy high salaries and privileges according to special schedules that have made them centers of polarization, such as the army, the Oil Corporation, embassies, and missions whose workers receive their salaries in foreign currency.”
He stressed that the state's responsibility requires applying its decisions to all parties without exception, stressing that it should not "satisfy a minority that is actually wealthy at the expense of the majority."
Al-Ghawil called for “reforming the job cadre with long-term solutions, after strengthening the private sector and ensuring that it provides a safe and stable work environment and fair wages.”
He said: “The population of Libya does not exceed 8 million, and it is unreasonable for the state’s workers to reach about 2.2 million, most of whom are disguised unemployment.”
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi stressed that “regarding the issue of Ethiopian dams, his country gives room for diplomacy and peaceful solutions, but this will not be at the expense of the existence of Egypt and its people.”
Al-Sisi added, on Tuesday evening, that “the Ethiopian Dam (referring to the Renaissance Dam) was not built; Except as a result of the events that the state witnessed during the period from 2011 to 2013, and the absence of the state.”
He explained that “the price that Egypt paid in 2011 was very high, and that he was keen to mention that (today) to ensure the preservation of Egypt. He also pointed out that the state is making strenuous efforts to increase its water resources, including desalinating seawater, treating water and recycling it.”
The Egyptian President pointed out that “the displacement attempts have not and will not end,” stressing that “Egypt’s strategic choice is peace, which was established by the late President Mohamed Anwar Sadat,” stressing that “Egypt has no hidden agenda, and the Palestinian issue remains the central issue in the Middle East region, and not settling it is the cause of instability in the region, and that the two-state solution represents the only way to achieve lasting peace and stability in the region.”
This came during Sisi’s meeting with Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, the entire Council of Ministers and Governors, in addition to a number of senior officials and commanders of the armed forces and civil police, a group of mayors and sheikhs, and a number of experts and specialists, at the headquarters of the Strategic Command in the New Capital (east of Cairo).
Negotiations took place between Cairo and Addis Ababa for nearly a decade regarding the “Renaissance Dam,” and it was decided to freeze them for 3 years before resuming them in 2023, then freezing them again in 2024, amid Ethiopia’s refusal to conclude an agreement, and its assertion that it does not harm Egypt or Sudan, the two downstream countries.
During the meeting, Sisi stressed the importance of making good use of the state’s resources, establishing confidence in its institutions, and ensuring the security of the home front, especially with the diversity and multiplicity of methods of attempts to harm the Egyptian state and the urgency in doing so.
He stressed that “the awareness of Egyptians is the wall of resistance,” noting that “the events that Egypt witnessed during the period from 2011 to 2013 resulted in a contraction in the Egyptian economy, and that recovery from this may take up to 15 years,” adding that “the greatest challenge after 2013 was to preserve the survival of the state and its institutions.” He added that “Egypt has been exposed from 2020 until now to economic shocks, most notably the repercussions of the (Corona) pandemic and the Russian war.” Ukraine, and the war on the Gaza Strip.
Al-Sisi also said that “the constants of Egypt’s foreign policy include supporting and aiding the security and stability of our brothers in the Arab Gulf countries,” stressing “the necessity of preserving freedom of navigation in the sea lanes in accordance with international law,” noting that “Egypt lost about $20 billion in revenues from the Suez Canal during recent years in light of the state of instability that the region has witnessed.”
In another context, President Sisi stressed that “the strength of the Egyptian state lies in its institutions and the awareness of its people,” noting that “the performance of officials must be characterized by more confidence, as preserving Egypt is a collective responsibility, and work must be done on the cohesion of the internal front.” “This requires the combined efforts of all institutions and citizens.”
According to presidential spokesman Mohamed El-Shenawy, the Egyptian President indicated that “wars aim to spread frustration and despair, stop construction, morally assassinate officials, and alienate others from joining the government,” calling on officials to exert their utmost effort, and the necessity of institutional work to mobilize all this power to ensure the preservation and stability of the state.
He also explained that “Egypt has tools whose exploitation will produce positive results, and that the state wants to maintain the morale of public opinion and avoid frustration,” stressing “the need to take into account that officials treat citizens well while providing services to them.”
Commenting on the developments in the region, the Egyptian President indicated that these developments resulted in an increase in the prices of oil and basic commodities, which was reflected in prices in Egypt, stressing that the Egyptian state is making every effort necessary to reduce the escalation in the region and avoid the recurrence of fighting.
