(Author: Libyan Gazette Editorial Staff)
The Tobruk-based House of Representatives (HoR) failed to hold yet another parliamentary session on Monday due to a lack of a quorum, said HoR Member Saleh Fahima.
According to Fahima, HoR Speaker and President Aguila Saleh left the HoR headquarters in Tobruk after realizing that the meeting did not reach quorum, as only 70 members were said to have attended the meeting.
Saleh called the meeting last week, which was supposed to focus on amending the Constitutional Declaration of 2011 in order for the parliamentary body to endorse the UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA), as outlined in the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA).
He also reportedly invited Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and the Presidential Council (PC) to attend the session. The GNA, which is Libya’s designated cabinet, took office in March 2015 after arriving in Tripoli by ship from Tunis.
The HoR was supposed to convene a meeting to give a vote of confidence to the GNA in January, two weeks after agreeing to the terms of the LPA, which was signed by all parties in Skhirat, Morocco on December 17, 2015.
However, every time the HoR was set to hold a meeting to complete its responsibility and give its symbolic vote of confidence to the GNA, either the meetings have been disrupted by members who opposed the GNA or the meetings lacked quorum.
The HoR, which is backed by General Khalifa haftar, has proven to be the main obstacle to Libya’s path forward, as the designated legislature continues to hold on to power by refusing to the endorse the cabinet of the GNA.
The head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) Martin Kobler has repeatedly called on the HoR to implement the LPA.
“The implementation of the Libyan Political Agreement has stalled, and it has stalled because some parties to the Agreement have failed to uphold their commitments,” he said.
In addition, last month, the United States Treasury Department sanctioned Saleh for his repeated efforts at obstructing the formation of the GNA, saying that he “is responsible for stalling political progress in Libya.”