The Libyan House of Representatives (HoR) ( ar, مجلس النواب, translit=Majlis al-Nuwaab, translation=Council of Deputies) is the
legislature
A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its p ...
of
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...
resulting from the
2014 Libyan parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Libya on 25 June 2014 for the House of Representatives. Whilst all candidates ran as independents, the elections saw nationalist and liberal factions win the majority of seats, with Islamist groups being red ...
, which had an 18% turnout. In late 2014, following the failed
coup attempt to take over the capital
Tripoli in the context of the
Libyan Civil War
Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. The ...
, the House of Representatives relocated itself to
Tobruk
Tobruk or Tobruck (; grc, Ἀντίπυργος, ''Antipyrgos''; la, Antipyrgus; it, Tobruch; ar, طبرق, Tubruq ''Ṭubruq''; also transliterated as ''Tobruch'' and ''Tubruk'') is a port city on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near ...
in the far east of Libya. Several HoR sessions were held in Tripoli in May 2019 while
Tripoli was under armed attack, electing an Interim Speaker for 45 days.
Between 2014 and 2021, the House of Representatives supported the
Tobruk-based government led by
Abdullah al-Thani
Abdullah al-Thani ( ar, عبد الله الثني Libyan pronunciation: ) is a Libyan politician who became prime minister of the House of Representatives of Libya on 11 March 2014, when he took over in an interim capacity after the dis ...
before supporting the incumbent
Government of National Unity
A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nati ...
led by
Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh
Abdul Hamid al-Dbeibeh ( ar, عبدالحميد محمد الدبيبة also spelled Dbeibah; born 13 February 1959) is a Libyan politician and businessman who is the prime minister of Libya under the Government of National Unity (GNU) in Trip ...
. In September 2021, the House of Representatives passed a
no-confidence motion against the interim GNU government.
History
Formation
The Libyan House of Representatives officially became a legislative body on 4 August 2014, following
an election on 25 June 2014, replacing the
General National Congress
The General National Congress or General National Council (GNC; ar, المؤتمر الوطني العام, Berber: Agraw Amuran Amatay) was the legislative authority of Libya for two years following the end of the First Libyan Civil War. It w ...
.
Turnout at the election was 18%, down from 60% in the first post-
Gaddafi
Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...
election of July 2012. Because of security concerns no voting took place in some locations.
the
chairman was
Aguila Saleh Issa
Aguila Saleh Issa ( ar, عقيلة صالح عيسى; born January 11, 1944) is a Libyan jurist and politician who is the Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives since 5 August 2014. He is also a representative of the town of Al Qubbah, in ...
.
the deputy presidents of the Council of Deputies were Imhemed Shaib and Ahmed Huma. , the HoR's associated executive authority was the Second Al-Thani Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thani, based in
Bayda, Libya
Bayda, or Elbeida ( or ; ar, البيضاء ) (also spelt ''az-Zāwiyat al-Bayḍāʾ'', ''Zāwiyat al-Bayḑā’'', ''Beida'' and ''El Beida''; known as ''Beda Littoria'' under Italian colonial rule), is a commercial and industrial city in e ...
.
The Tripoli-based
Libyan Supreme Constitutional Court ruled on 6 November 2014 that the June elections were unconstitutional and that the House of Representatives should be dissolved. The House of Representatives rejected the ruling, saying that the ruling was made "at gunpoint", with the court being controlled by armed militias.
In late 2014, a rival parliament in Tripoli was restored, the General National Congress (GNC).
The House of Representatives did not recognize the new GNC, and voted on 6 October 2015, 112 out of 131, "to extend its term beyond 20 October", given the inability to hold elections.
Shift to Tobruk
In late 2014, following the occupation of
Tripoli by armed Islamist groups during the
Second Libyan Civil War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Second Libyan Civil War
, partof = the Arab Winter, Libyan Crisis, Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict, War on terror, and Qatar–Saudi Arabia diplomatic conflict
, image ...
, the House of Representatives relocated to Tobruk in the far east of the country. Since there was not enough housing for them, they initially hired a car ferry from a Greek shipping company, the ''
Elyros'' of
ANEK Lines
ANEK Lines (Ανώνυμη Ναυτιλιακή Εταιρεία Κρήτης, ''Anonymi Naftiliaki Eteria Kritis'', Anonymous Shipping Company of Crete) is one of the largest passenger shipping companies in Greece. It was founded in 1967 by nu ...
, for members to live and meet in. Later the HoR relocated to the Dar al-Salam Hotel in Tobruk.
Skhirat agreement
In October 2015, the UN envoy for Libya,
Bernardino León, announced a proposal for the House of Representatives to share power with the rival new GNC government, under a compromise prime minister,
Fayez al-Sarraj
Fayez Mustafa al-Sarraj ( ar, فائز السراج or ; born 20 February 1960) is a Libyan politician who served as the Chairman of the Presidential Council of Libya and Head of Government of the Government of National Accord from 2016 to 2021 ...
. However, the terms of the final proposal were not acceptable to either side, and both rejected it. Nonetheless, the proposal did spark a revised proposal put together by Fayez al-Sarraj and others, which was subsequently supported by the United Nations. On 17 December 2015 members of the House of Representatives and the new General National Congress signed this revised political agreement, generally known as the ''"Libyan Political Agreement"'' or the ''"Skhirat Agreement"''.
Under the terms of the agreement, a nine-member
Presidency Council and a seventeen-member interim Government of National Accord would have been formed, with a view to holding new elections within two years.
The House of Representatives would have continued to exist as a legislature and an advisory body, to be known as the
High Council of State, would have been formed with members nominated by the
New General National Congress. On 31 December 2015, Chairman of the House of Representatives,
Aguila Saleh Issa
Aguila Saleh Issa ( ar, عقيلة صالح عيسى; born January 11, 1944) is a Libyan jurist and politician who is the Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives since 5 August 2014. He is also a representative of the town of Al Qubbah, in ...
declared his support for the Libyan Political Agreement.
As of April 2016, the Libyan National Elections Commission was still considering its recommendations on legislation to implement the next election of the House of Representatives.
A new round of talks that started in October 2017 in
Tunis
''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois
, population_note =
, population_urban =
, population_metro = 2658816
, population_density_km2 =
, timezone1 = CET
, utc_offset1 ...
broke down a month later without a deal. On 17 December 2017, general
Khalifa Haftar
Field Marshal Khalifa Belqasim Haftar ( ar, خليفة بلقاسم حفتر, Ḵalīfa Bilqāsim Ḥaftar; born 7 November 1943) is a Libyan-American politician, military officer, and the commander of the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army (LN ...
declared the "so-called" Skhirat agreement void.
2019 Tripoli meetings
Early in April 2019, during the
2019–20 Western Libya campaign
The Western Libya campaign was a military campaign initiated on 4 April 2019 by the Operation Flood of Dignity ( ar, عملية طوفان الكرامة) of the Libyan National Army, which represents the Libyan House of Representatives, to cap ...
, 31 members of the House of Representatives made a public statement supporting the attack on Tripoli and 49 members made a public statement opposing the attack.
On 2 May, 51 members of the HoR held a session at the
Rixos al-Nasr Hotel. They stated that their session was not intended to split up the HoR nor Libya and called other members of the HoR to attend another Tripoli session planned for 5 May. They opposed the use of military force, called for a political solution to the offensive, and called for the
Presidential Council, in its role as the head of the Libyan armed forces, to appoint a new head of the army
to replace
Khalifa Haftar
Field Marshal Khalifa Belqasim Haftar ( ar, خليفة بلقاسم حفتر, Ḵalīfa Bilqāsim Ḥaftar; born 7 November 1943) is a Libyan-American politician, military officer, and the commander of the Tobruk-based Libyan National Army (LN ...
, who had been appointed by the HoR on 2 March 2015.
On 5 May, a Tripoli session of 47 members of the House of Representatives elected al-Sadiq al-Kehili as Interim Speaker, Musaab al-Abed as a rapporteur and
Hammuda Siala as a spokesperson, for a period of 45 days, with 27 votes in favour.
In the
2014 Libyan parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Libya on 25 June 2014 for the House of Representatives. Whilst all candidates ran as independents, the elections saw nationalist and liberal factions win the majority of seats, with Islamist groups being red ...
, al-Kehili was elected with 1596 votes in electorate 56,
Tajura
Tajura ( ar, تاجوراء, translit=Tājūrā), also spelt ''Tajoura'', is a town in north-western Libya, and baladiyah in the Tripoli Muhafazah, on the Mediterranean coast east of Tripoli.
From 2001 to 2007 Tajura was the capital of t ...
; Musaab al-Abed (Musab Abulgasim) was elected with 2566 votes in electorate 59,
Hay al-Andalus; and Sayala (Siyala) was elected with 6023 votes in electorate 58, Tripoli Central.
On 8 May, another session was held in Tripoli, creating an Internal Code Review committee, to review HoR decisions made since 2014, under Article 16 of the Skhirat Agreement; an International Communication committee; a Secretarial Office; and a Crisis committee, to "follow" the work of the emergency committee created by the Presidential Council in relation to the 2019 Western Libya offensive.
Sayala stated in a televised interview that solving the crisis in Libya would require a political agreement in which the HoR is "restored" as the highest legislative authority in Libya.
Disappearances
On 17 July 2019, one of the Benghazi members of the House of Representatives,
Seham Sergewa, well-known for her documentation of
rape as a weapon of war
Wartime sexual violence is rape or other forms of sexual violence committed by combatants during armed conflict, war, or military occupation often as spoils of war, but sometimes, particularly in ethnic conflict, the phenomenon has broader ...
during the
2011 Libyan Civil War,
was detained by the
Libyan National Army
The Libyan National Army (LNA; ar, الجيش الوطني الليبي, ''al-jaysh al-waṭaniyy al-Lībii'') is a component of Libya's military forces which were nominally a unified national force under the command of Field Marshal Khalifa ...
(LNA).
, her location was unknown.
Government of National Unity
On 10 March 2021, the House of Representatives met in the central city of
Sirte to formally approve the formation of a Government of National Unity (GNU) led by
Mohamed al-Menfi
Mohamed Yunus al-Menfi ( ar, محمد يونس المنفي; born 3 March 1976) is a Libyan diplomat and politician from Tobruk.
On 5 February 2021, he was chosen as the president of the Libyan Presidential Council at the Libyan Political Di ...
as chairman of the Presidential Council and Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh as Prime Minister. 121 members of the House voted to approve the formation of the unity government. The Government of National Unity was seeking to unify the rival
Government of National Accord
The Government of National Accord ( ar, حكومة الوفاق الوطني) was an interim government for Libya that was formed under the terms of the Libyan Political Agreement, a United Nations–led initiative, signed on 17 December 2015. ...
based in Tripoli and the Second Al-Thani Cabinet based in Tobruk.
On 21 September, the House of Representatives passed a no-confidence vote against the GNU led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh after 83 out of the 113 members present voted for the motion, thus practically acknowledging support for the
Government of National Stability
The Government of National Stability ( ar, حكومة الإستقرار الوطني, ḥkūmẗ al-istqrār al-ūṭnī) is a Libyan provisional government based in Sirte formed on 10 March 2022, led by Fathi Bashagha and supported by the Hous ...
.
Government of National Stability
On 10 February 2022, the House of Representatives selected
Fathi Bashagha
Fathi Ali Abdul Salam Bashagha ( ar, فتحي علي عبد السلام باشآغا; born 20 August 1962), known simply as "Fathi Bashagha" or occasionally Fathi Ali Pasha, is a Libyan politician and the interim prime minister of Government of ...
as
prime minister-designate
A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...
, after HoR Speaker Aguila Saleh announced the only other candidate, Khalid Al-Baybas, withdrew his candidacy.
However, Al-Baybas has denied withdrawing from the race. Prime Minister of the GNU Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh rejected Bashagha's appointment as prime minister, stating that he will only hand power after a national election.
Khalifa Haftar and his Libyan National Army welcomed Bashagha's appointment. Civilian and military leaders in
Misrata rejected the formation of a new government and declared support for the GNU. Egypt’s foreign ministry supported the “new government,” but the United Nations said it continued to recognize Mr. Dbeiba’s leadership.
On 1 March, the House of Representatives voted to give confidence to Bashagha's Government of National Stability (GNS). According to HoR Speaker Saleh, 92 out of 101 attending members voted for the new government. A HoR member raised questions about the validity of the vote by stating that 10 votes from absent members were cast via voice messages sent to the Speaker. The
High Council of State rejected "unilateral" steps by the HoR and regards the HoR decision to grant confidence to a new government a violation of the Libyan Political Agreement. The
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
has voiced concerns over the vote due to reports on lack of transparency and procedure, and acts of intimidation prior to the HoR session.
See also
*
High Council of State (Libya)
The High Council of State ( ar, المجلس الأعلى للدولة, ''al majlis al'aelaa lildawla''), is an advisory body for Libya formed under the terms of the Libyan Political Agreement which was signed on 17 December 2015. The agreement ...
*
Libyan Civil War (2014–2020)
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Second Libyan Civil War
, partof = the Arab Winter, Libyan Crisis (2011–present), Libyan Crisis, Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict, War on terror, and Qatar–Saudi Arabia diplomat ...
*
Libyan Crisis (2011–present)
The Libyan Crisis refers to the current humanitarian crisis and political-military instability occurring in Libya, beginning with the Arab Spring protests of 2011, which led to a civil war, foreign military intervention, and the ousting and dea ...
*
2014 Libyan parliamentary election
Parliamentary elections were held in Libya on 25 June 2014 for the House of Representatives. Whilst all candidates ran as independents, the elections saw nationalist and liberal factions win the majority of seats, with Islamist groups being red ...
References
External links
Official websiteOfficial Facebook page
{{National unicameral legislatures
Politics of Libya
Political organizations based in Libya
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...
Libya
Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...
2014 establishments in Libya