The Libyan Member of Parliament, Misbah Douma, said that the committees of the House of Representatives (HoR) and the High Council of State (HCS) will return to Cairo on May 15th, to complete the consultations.
Douma indicated that the Cairo consultations succeeded in converging the views of the two Libyan bodies. He pointed out that an agreement was reached on the general framework of the constitutional process and the mechanism for addressing controversial issues in the draft constitution to reach close elections in the country.
He confirmed that the delegation of the Libyan Parliament is following the twelfth constitutional declaration, which was approved by the Parliament by forming a committee to amend the constitution. He noted that if the consultations fail, they will go to another framework, which is the constitutional rule.
Last week, the Spokesperson of the HoR, Abdullah Blaiheg, confirmed that the rapprochement has been reached regarding the work mechanism of the Constitutional Base Committee. He added that it is now working to limit the controversial points to the draft constitution.
In press statements, Blaiheg said that “the solutions required the amendment of some controversial articles in the constitution which have not yet crystallized at the meeting of the Libyan Parliament and the HCS in Cairo.”
He added, “no official statements have been issued on the results that have been reached, but there is progress on some differences between the two delegations.”
The Parliament’s Spokesperson continued, “if the discussions require a departure from the constitutional path, the committee must return to the Parliament, which specified its field of work.”
Blaiheg noted that, “the draft constitution faced objections from the federalist movement and the Amazighs who want to constitutionalise some rights.”
He pointed out that “the 12th amendment took its legal form and was approved in a valid session with a proper quorum and became part of the interim constitution.”
Blaiheg explained that “if the effort to amend the controversial points in the draft constitution succeeds, it will be put to a referendum. He said that the second track in the road map, if the constitution is not approved, is to amend the electoral laws and then hold presidential and parliamentary elections.”
He concluded, “the maximum period of time according to the road map is 14 months, but at that time there will be a permanent constitution for Libya.”