(Author: Libyan Gazette Editorial Staff)
Libya’s Court of Appeals Administrative Chamber in the city of Bayda issued an urgent verdict invalidating the constitution draft, based on a source that has chosen to remain unnamed.
The decision was made based on information submitted to the court that the Constitutional Drafting Assembly (CDA) changed the quorum for a vote on the constitution, against the constructional declaration, from two-thirds plus one of the total elected members to fifty percent plus one of the attendees to force a vote, after a significant number of members had boycotted the assembly. Instead of two-thirds plus one or 41 votes, there were only 33 members in the sessions of the CDA as reported by an article in the Digital Journal, not enough to pass any articles.
The same article reported that the members who boycotted claimed that the votes “are illegal and a sheer violation of the constitutional declaration as well as the internal regulations of the CDA.”
A statement by the group said, “the CDA does not have the right or the authority to amend the quorum whatsoever because the amendment is one of the jobs of the legislative authority.”
The court further ruled that any decisions made using this modified approach for quorum is invalid.