On Tuesday, the Libyan parliament voted to terminate the term of the Tripoli-based government led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh. Parliamentary spokesperson Abdullah Belhaiq announced that the assembly has recognized the East Libya-based cabinet of Osama Hammad as the “legitimate government until a new unified government is established.”
Additionally, the parliament appointed its speaker, Aguila Saleh, as the new commander of the Libyan Armed Forces, replacing the Presidency Council.
There was no immediate response from Dbeibeh’s government or the Presidency Council regarding these decisions.
The move comes on the heels of the Presidency Council’s creation of a new agency for national referendums and inquiries, a step that the parliament has rejected.
Libya has been mired in chaos since the 2011 ousting of longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi, who ruled for four decades. Currently, the country is divided between two rival administrations: the UN-recognized Government of National Unity (GNU) led by Dbeibeh in Tripoli, overseeing the western region, and the parliament-appointed government of Osama Hammad in Benghazi, which controls the eastern region and parts of the south.
UN-led efforts to organize parliamentary and presidential elections have repeatedly faltered, deepening the political impasse and intensifying the security challenges in the oil-rich nation.
