Today, Tuesday, the Libyan House of Representatives announced by a majority approval to withdraw confidence from the national unity government headed by Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba, while the Supreme Council of State considered this step “void”, due to the violation of the constitutional declaration and the political agreement.

Parliament spokesman Abdullah Belhaiq said – on his Facebook page – that the parliament decided to withdraw confidence from the government by a majority of 89 out of 113 deputies who attended today’s session, provided that it continues to operate as a caretaker government.

And earlier today, Belhaq said that a closed session of the House of Representatives was launched under the chairmanship of its speaker, Aguila Saleh, and in the presence of the last deputies, Fawzi Al-Nuwairi and Hamid Houma, and 113 deputies.

For his part, spokesman for the Supreme Council of State, Muhammad Abdel Nasser, affirmed the council’s rejection of the confidence-withdrawal measures from the government, and considered them invalid for violating the constitutional declaration and the political agreement, as he put it.

It is noteworthy that the total number of members of the Libyan House of Representatives is 200, but the current number is actually about 170, and it cannot be determined precisely because of deaths and individual resignations.

Observers believe that there is a conflict between the constitutional declaration and the internal regulations of the Council with regard to the mechanism of withdrawing confidence from the government.

The constitutional declaration stipulates that the withdrawal of confidence from the government is carried out by 120 deputies, but the internal regulations of the Council provide for the withdrawal of confidence according to the “50 + 1” rule.

More than 30 members of the House of Representatives are preparing a statement regarding what they describe as the illegality of the vote to withdraw confidence from the national unity government.

For his part, the head of the Supreme Council of State, Khaled Al-Mashri, said – during a press conference held in the Moroccan capital Rabat – that the goal of the Supreme Council is to reach the elections and any action that disturbs this goal will not be given greater than its size.

Al-Mashri added – in response to a question about the withdrawal of confidence – that the government will continue its work until December 24, and we must provide it with a suitable environment for organizing elections.

fraud and manipulation

And Suhaib Jassem, Al-Jazeera correspondent from Tripoli, quoted local statements by Libyan deputies about fraud and manipulation of numbers, in addition to errors in voting procedures.

The reporter added that the withdrawal of confidence passes through 3 stages, where 50 members of Parliament submit a request to withdraw confidence to the Supreme Council of State to express its opinion, then the request is returned to the House of Representatives and the confidence is raised by a majority.

The reporter explained that the withdrawal of confidence is beset with problems in the internal regulations and constitutional problems, and is expected to cause a new political crisis in the country, in addition to the crisis of legal preparation for the upcoming elections.

After the battles ended in the summer of 2020, a transitional unity government headed by Dabaiba was formed in March under the supervision of the United Nations to manage the transitional period until the upcoming legislative and presidential elections on December 24.