Libyan parliament votes to dismiss PM
Mustafa Abu Shagur sacked from his post after failing to form a cabinet for a second time.
Libya’s parliament has passed a no-confidence vote in the newly-elected prime minister, Mustafa Abu Shagur, dismissing him from his post.
Abu Shagur had until Sunday to form a cabinet, or risk losing his job. His first list of 29 ministers was rejected for not being diverse enough; a second, shorter list, submitted on Sunday, was also rejected by lawmakers, who voted 125 to 44 in favour of removing him.
Under the General National Congress’s rules, lawmakers will now elect a new premier.
The original list of 29 ministers, which included one woman, was comprised of several members of the transitional government and many unknown figures; there were no representatives of the main liberal coalition.
Members of the GNC on Thursday lambasted those choices, calling them either incompetent, unknowns, or remnants from the old transitional government.
Their rejection came after more than 100 protesters stormed the national assembly’s headquarters on Thursday, demanding greater representation for the western town of Zawiyah and reportedly calling for Abu Shagur’s resignation.
“The first government was not perfect. And we should have discussed and mofidied it,” Abu Shagur told lawmakers. “I will not assume responsibility for a team that is not of my own liking,” he added.
Abu Shagur, a technocrat, won his post on September 12 by a small margin in a run-off vote against wartime premier Mahmud Jibril, who leads the largest liberal coalition in the assembly, the National Forces Alliance.
Parties hold only 80 of the GNC’s 200 seats, with 120 for independent representatives, elected in small regional constituencies, who ultimately have the power to make or break the next government.
Under the transition plan for Libya, a new government will be in power for roughly a year only, until fresh elections on the basis of a new constitution are held.