“I am the legitimate BMC mayor!” claim three different people, since the Benghazi Municipal Council (BMC) was divided, based on conflicting laws and their exceptions in times of war. Last week, they were all surprised by a military decision to deactivate the former council and appoint a new mayor.

Before the division

Elected on 19 April, 2014, the BMC consisted of nine members like all elected municipal councils in Libya. This was reported by the spokesman Jamal Khader who said he is responsible before BMC, not before any of the three mayors.

“I am the legitimate BMC mayor!” claim three different people, since the Benghazi Municipal Council (BMC) was divided, based on conflicting laws and their exceptions in times of war. Last week, they were all surprised by a military decision to deactivate the former council and appoint a new mayor.

Before the division

Elected on 19 April, 2014, the BMC consisted of nine members like all elected municipal councils in Libya. This was reported by the spokesman Jamal Khader who said he is responsible before BMC, not before any of the three mayors.

However, the number of members shrunk to eight, following the kidnapping of Essam Ghiryani on the same day when his wife Salwa Bo Qaiqis, a lawyer and human rights activist, was killed in June 2014. The other BMC members decided not to elect a replacement – Ghiryani who is currently still in hiding.

The eight members met and elected Tariq el-Orfi as mayor, but the latter went to Tripoli after the outset of Operation Dignity in October 2014.

First division

Orfi said he and council member Abdul Salam Al-Bassiouni were forced to move to Tripoli after the start of Operation Dignity. He began his work as Mayor of Benghazi from the capital until the members staying in their city decided to dismiss him in December 2015, and then dismissed Bassiouni in February 2016. The decision came in accordance with Local Administration Law No. 59 of 2012, which stipulates that a municipal council member is dismissed if he unjustifiably misses three sessions.

Orfi thinks his absence is justified by the war, which forced him and thousands others inside and outside the city to go to Tripoli. Therefore, he claims that the dismissal was illegal. The law stipulates that the deputy mayor performs the mayor’s work until the mayor’s return; there is no specified period. Thus, he is still the mayor by law until today.

Second division

“Once Orfi went to Tripoli, BMC members nominated Omar Barasi as his successor, until a new mayor is elected according to regulations,” said BMC member Anis Magbari.

Magbari added that Barasi remained in office for two years until a new member, Muhammad Nashad, joined BMC and the quorum was complete. In accordance with Law 59, the designated mayor shall not continue to perform his job after the quorum completed, but the members must elect a new one.

The seven members met in early June and Mr. Zakaria Baltemr was elected as a third mayor with four votes. He started working but Barasi refused to transfer power to Baltemr.

Third division

Awad Qwairi, who voted to Baltemr, stated that Barasi is running the BMC and has not passed the powers yet in spite of the election results, which made Baltemr file a lawsuit at the Benghazi Court to resolve this issue.

The elected mayor, Zakaria Baltemr mentioned that Barasi refusal was based on a letter from the Prime Minister asking him to stay on, and this violates the law according to Baltemr.

Baltemr added that BMC is a legal entity and the Prime Minister and executive branch of government do not interfere in its work. BMC deals with the Ministry of Local Government (MoLG) only in the context of the results adoption for organization. “We are waiting for an adjudication on the prime minister’s letter violation of the law,” he said.

Another message

Intissar Mohammed, a member of MoLG Information Office explained that the Prime Minister’s letter to maintain the designated mayor may justified by the state of war in Benghazi. However, she insisted that the Minister adopted the new mayor and has no choice. Mohammed provided another justification; pressure by Barasi tribe, which constitutes the majority of the population of Bayda, where the headquarters of the Libyan interim government is located.

Baltemr, based in the Urban Planning Sector in the “Garden” area, south of Benghazi, said he received another letter from the Prime Minister stating that no member shall join the new BMC until the liberation of the city is completed, in reference to Mohammed Nashad who started working in April. “This also violates the Local Administration Law,” said Baltemr.

“My joining is legal and legitimate,” insists Nashad who even filed a lawsuit accusing Barasi of preventing him from performing his duties, which is protected by law.

Who is the recognized mayor?

Tariq el-Orfi, based in Tripoli, believes that he is the legitimate mayor. He was able to get the support of the National Salvation Government and send food and medicine to Benghazi. In addition, he was received in the United Nation’s mission office in Tripoli when he submitted a report on the displaced and affected people in his city in August 2015, while those in Benghazi were not able to help displaced people inside and outside Benghazi.

Similarly, Barasi who refuses to relinquish power, says he is the legitimate mayor. According to BMC spokesman, some international organizations still consider Barasi to be mayor. In addition, his signature is still valid in BMC bank accounts, according to Anis Magbari.

The third mayor, Zakaria Baltemr, derives his legitimacy from the support of Benghazi dignitaries, sheikhs and elders to the election process, which they declared in a meeting directly once he was elected. He emphasized his legitimacy, saying that he received the Minister of Local Government in Benghazi to attend the inauguration of building houses for the displaced in Tawergha city.

The fourth military mayor

The reconciliation process called for by the municipal member Anis Magbari, especially between Barasi and Baltemr, has failed. Last week, Maj. Gen. Abdel Razek Nazawra, the military governor of Derna (400 kilometers west of Benghazi), decided to designate a military governor of Benghazi and freeze the BMC work. The decision to appoint the military police commander, Colonel Ahmed Oraibi, to perform the functions of Benghazi mayor was issued on August 11.

Oraibi has not performed any tasks or made any statements that put him in the conflict amongst the three mayors in Benghazi. Legal Adviser Abraham Boshnaf believes that disabling the elected council in 2014 is legal and valid, especially after Benghazi was declared as a besieged city by the interim government in November 2014. Therefore, the first duty of the military governor is to disrupt civilian life and to take measures to return things to normal for the elected authority to be able to cancel its earlier decision.

The impact of the division

Media professional Ahmed Maqsabi, the director of Radio Wassat, said the accelerated events and armed confrontations in Benghazi, reflected in the living and humanitarian conditions, requires BMC to be able to deal with these events. “Unfortunately, the members were divided and thus, we have two councils in Benghazi and the third in Tripoli, which embodies the Libyan situation and crisis,” says Maqsabi. “It is a sham that BMC failed to communicate with citizens, directly or indirectly, through the media and services.

In contrast, lawyer Ibrahim Ghiryani, a former member of the National Congress for Benghazi, does not believe that the BMC division has an impact on the services provided to the city’s citizens, since most services are directly related to the Bayda central government. He thinks that it is essential to end the division and disputes by law.