On Thursday, Libyan Parliament Speaker, Ageela Saleh and the Head of the High Council of State (HCS), Khaled Al-Mishri will meet to discuss the political blockage in the constitutional track, and negotiate the distribution of sovereign positions.
The HCS First Deputy, Naji Mokhtar told local media that the meeting will be held in Morocco. He added that the consensus between the two chambers “is an important matter to accomplish many urgent matters, including the constitutional base and sovereign positions to move towards elections, unify institutions, and choose who will lead them.”
Notably, the last meeting between Saleh and Al-Mishri took place in Geneva in late June, under the auspices of the former Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General, Stephanie Williams. The two parties failed to agree on a constitutional framework regulating the election process. This is due to differences over the terms of running for the Presidency. Saleh has demanded the candidacy of military personnel and dual nationals, but Al-Mishri has rejected this article.
Last month, Saleh said he had reached an agreement with Al-Mishri to exclude conditions for Presidential candidates. “I met more than once with Al-Mishri and his two deputies, and we found a convergence of views between us, regarding the constitutional base,” he said during a Parliamentarian session on Thursday, in Benghazi.
According to the Al-Araby Al-Jadeed website reported, citing parliamentarian sources, that Saleh and Al-Mishri agreed on a political initiative to form a new Presidential Council, to lead the country during the next transitional phase.
The sources explained that Saleh will chair the new Presidential Council, with Al-Mishri as deputy. Another deputy from the country’s western region will be chosen later.
The sources claimed that Saleh had proposed to hold Parliamentary elections before the Presidential vote, and to exclude all candidacy conditions from the draft constitution. These include military personnel and dual nationals, the sources added.
On 10 February 2022, the Libyan Parliament announced the unanimous appointment of Bashagha as the new Prime Minister. But outgoing PM Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba warned that the appointment of a new interim government could lead to war and chaos in the country. He renewed his pledge to only hand power over to an elected government.