Saleh Kalma, rapporteur of the Libyan Parliament, discusses the Parliament’s vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj’s government. Kalma also makes a case for wider representation in order for governance to have a chance.
In your capacity as rapporteur, were you aware in advance of the Speaker’s decision to vote on the national reconciliation government? What was supposed to be discussed at the August 22 session?
Saleh Kalma, rapporteur of the Libyan Parliament, discusses the Parliament’s vote of no confidence in Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj’s government. Kalma also makes a case for wider representation in order for governance to have a chance.
In your capacity as rapporteur, were you aware in advance of the Speaker’s decision to vote on the national reconciliation government? What was supposed to be discussed at the August 22 session?
The session was allocated to discuss a referendum on the draft constitution and law No. 4 for the Parliament bylaws, but we were surprised by the decision to vote on the national reconciliation government. The Council’s presidency should have notified us with the session’s agenda earlier, to avoid the confusion that was seen in the media and at the political level.
Does this mean that the vote of no confidence in the national reconciliation government contradicts the Parliament’s bylaws and the political agreement?
No, it does not. The number of attendees, which exceeded 100 MPs, was enough to reach a decision and half of them voted in favor of no-confidence. Thus, and in accordance with the bylaws, any decision would be approved if the number of attendees exceeds half the number of the parliament members (200 MPs). Since the national reconciliation government was not satisfactory to all parties, with the exception of the southern region’s MPs, it was rejected and all submitted appeals were to no avail.
Did the Speaker, Akila Saleh impose a fait accompli when he changed the session agenda without notifying you?
To be fair, the Speaker and his two deputies are entitled to determine the session agendas. The Speaker and his second deputy were available for the session and Akila opened the meeting saying: “The draft constitution will be referred to the legislative committee for consideration while we will begin to discuss the national reconciliation government and decide whether to approve or reject it. We have discussed this issue with the presidency at the beginning of the session and any appeal will be to no avail since there is a prior intention to overthrow the government for not representing all social components, regions and women among numerous other problems. As I said earlier, only the southern MPs endorsed the government while the western and eastern MPs are dissatisfied with it.
Who had a prior intention to overthrow the government? Was it the Speaker?
No, not exactly. The Speaker opposed the structure of the reconciliation government, but he did not have any intention to overthrow the presidential council as he called upon the presidential council to restructure the national reconciliation government as a miniature government, to be referred to the Parliament for immediate approval on condition of efficiency and inclusiveness.
Do you believe a miniature government is the solution? Would all-inclusive representation guarantee confidence in the next government?
A miniature government, in my opinion, will not be a good solution as it will not include all parties. It is necessary to involve all three regions of Cyrenaica, Fezzan and Tripoli in addition to women and the components of Toubou, Tuareg and Amazigh. There should be 13 to 16 portfolios depending on the distribution of electoral districts at the High National Elections Commission which amount to 13 districts.
By Marwan Bakkar
