Libya’s parliament removes Speaker Saleh after 12 years as discontent grows

Eastern-based parliament votes to replace longtime speaker with Al-Salhin Abdelnabi al-Obeidi.

Aguila Saleh, then speaker of Libya's House of Representatives, attends a UN meeting in New York on September 29, 2015 [File: Andrew Kelly/Reuters]

Libya’s eastern-based House of Representatives has elected a new speaker, ending Aguila Saleh’s 12-year tenure amid growing discontent among lawmakers over his leadership.

Legislators in the 170-member House voted on Tuesday to replace Saleh with Al-Salhin Abdelnabi al-Obeidi, the parliament’s spokesperson announced on X.

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The vote came a day after 98 members of the House approved a new system limiting the speaker and deputy speakers to a single 12-month term.

The change ended an arrangement that had been in place since the chamber’s first leadership was elected in 2014.

“There was significant discontent among MPs with the previous leadership over numerous errors,” lawmaker Jebree Oheida told the Reuters news agency. “We tried to engage with the leadership to address these issues, but to no avail. Among these errors were decisions made without consulting MPs.”

The vote was overseen by Second Deputy Speaker Misbah Douma, according to the Libya Observer.

Saleh has previously rejected the proceedings, saying the initial vote to limit the speaker’s term was “not official and had no legal effect”, according to the outlet. He had also announced that he had cancelled the session he had called for Tuesday.

The developments come as Libya remains divided politically and militarily between the United Nations-recognised government in Tripoli led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, and a rival administration in the east backed by renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar.

Haftar’s camp relies in particular on the parliament, which sits in the eastern city of Benghazi under their control.

Saleh has long been considered a staunch ally of the Haftar clan, but analysts said he appeared to be weakened as Haftar’s sons, in particular Saddam Haftar, consolidated their positions.

“Agila Saleh appears to be the latest casualty of Saddam Haftar’s drive to centralise decision-making in eastern Libya and bulldoze his way into a political role,” said Emadeddin Badi, an analyst at the London-based Chatham House.

Al-Obeidi, who comes from the same tribe as Saleh, represents the eastern city of Tobruk and has chaired parliament’s Libyan-Turkish friendship committee.

The House on Tuesday also elected Tarek al-Ashtar and Mesbah Douma as first and second deputy speakers, respectively.

Their election follows the signing of a landmark agreement by representatives of Libya’s rival political camps in Tripoli in August that could see presidential and legislative elections held within two years.

Mediated by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), the “ 4+4 committee ” agreement attempts to resolve recurring legal and institutional disputes that have crippled the nation since the overthrow of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

The United States is pursuing a separate reunification plan for the oil and gas-rich North African country, led by Massad Boulos, President Donald Trump’s senior adviser for Arab and African affairs.

东部议会投票决定用阿尔-萨利欣·阿卜杜勒纳比·奥贝迪取代长期担任议长的议员。

2015年9月29日，时任利比亚众议院议长的阿吉拉·萨利赫在纽约出席联合国会议。[图片：安德鲁·凯利/路透社]

利比亚东部的众议院选举产生了新议长，结束了阿吉拉·萨利赫长达 12 年的任期。此前，议员们对他的领导越来越不满。

议会发言人于周二宣布，由 170 名议员组成的议会投票决定用 Al-Salhin Abdelnabi al-Obeidi 取代 Saleh。

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利比亚三个敌对派别签署协议，将在两年内举行全国选举（名单2/3）

列表 3/3：对利比亚而言，霍尔木兹危机既可能是陷阱，也可能是机遇

投票前一天，众议院 98 名议员批准了一项新制度，将议长和副议长的任期限制为 12 个月。

这一变化结束了自 2014 年商会第一届领导层选举以来一直实行的安排。

“议员们对前任领导层犯下的诸多错误感到非常不满，”议员杰布里·奥海达告诉路透社。“我们曾试图与领导层沟通解决这些问题，但无济于事。这些错误中就包括一些未经议员咨询就做出的决定。”

据《利比亚观察报》报道，此次投票由第二副议长米斯巴·杜马监督。

据该媒体报道，萨利赫此前已驳回了相关程序，称最初限制议长任期的投票“不正式，不具有法律效力”。他还宣布取消了原定于周二举行的会议。

利比亚局势持续分裂，一方是位于的黎波里、由总理阿卜杜勒·哈米德·德贝巴领导的联合国承认的政府，另一方是东部由叛军指挥官哈利法·哈夫塔尔支持的敌对政权。

哈夫塔尔阵营尤其依赖于议会，该议会位于东部城市班加西，受其控制。

萨利赫长期以来一直被认为是哈夫塔尔家族的坚定盟友，但分析人士表示，随着哈夫塔尔的儿子们，特别是萨达姆·哈夫塔尔巩固了自己的地位，萨利赫的地位似乎有所削弱。

“阿吉拉·萨利赫似乎是萨达姆·哈夫塔尔在利比亚东部集中决策权并强行夺取政治地位的最新受害者，”伦敦查塔姆研究所的分析师埃马德丁·巴迪说。

与萨利赫同属一个部落的奥贝迪代表东部城市图卜鲁格，并曾担任议会利比亚-土耳其友好委员会主席。

周二，众议院还选举塔里克·阿什塔尔和梅斯巴·杜马分别担任第一和第二副议长。

他们的当选是在利比亚敌对政治阵营的代表于 8 月在的黎波里签署一项具有里程碑意义的协议之后做出的，该协议可能在两年内举行总统和立法选举。

在联合国利比亚支助团（联利支助团）的斡旋下，“4+4委员会”协议试图解决自2011年穆阿迈尔·卡扎菲上校被推翻以来一直困扰该国的反复出现的法律和体制争端。

美国正在推行一项针对这个石油和天然气资源丰富的北非国家的单独统一计划，该计划由唐纳德·特朗普总统的阿拉伯和非洲事务高级顾问马萨德·布洛斯领导。