Despite the fact that the political agreement stipulates that the House of Representatives and the Supreme Council of State must be approve the referendum law for the Constitution before the expiry of the Drafting Constitution Assembly’s mandate , the Assembly had adopted a draft constitution on July 29 but the two legislative bodies did not issue decisions on it.
However, after the adoption of the draft constitution, the Assembly sent the two houses a proposal for a referendum law to expedite the issuance of the decision. The Supreme Council of State had rushed to adopt the proposal after its amendment, while the HOR did not take follow.
We are waiting for the House of Representatives to issue the referendum law together
Member of the Supreme Council of State, Musa Faraj, said that the HOR and the Supreme Council of State exceeded the cut off dates specified by the political agreement on drafting a referendum law on the draft constitution; a result of the non-involvement of the HOR on the lack of fulfillment of the responsibilities vested to it, even though the Draft Constitution Assembly proposed the draft constitution in late July.
In a statement to Arraed LG on Friday, Faraj said that when the Assembly completed its draft and voted on it, it sent it to the HOR and the Supreme Council of the State. The Assembly, in cooperation with a team of legal members of the House of Representatives and members of the Electoral Commission, prepared a draft referendum law. The Council assigned its legal committee, reviewed this draft, introduced some amendments and corrections, and presented it to the Supreme Council of the State and adopted the draft referendum law.
A member of the Supreme Council of State stated that the political agreement requires that the wording correspond to the HOR and to the Supreme Council of State, confirming that they agree on the wording adopted by the Supreme Council of the State.
Faraj stressed that the Supreme Council of State is expected to work with the HOR and has announced that it has a ready committee, a drafted law prepared, anda committee of jurists consisting of committees from the two chambers to meet in two or three days to unify the language. He noted that the law is a technicality the referendum process and that the Assembly that is most knowledgeable of what is needed in the law to conduct the referendum process in a manner that is easy and transparent.
The Supreme Council of State’s adoption of the referendum law proposal is a positive step, and we call on the HOR to adopt it
In a comment on the adoption by the Supreme Council of the State of the proposed referendum law, Constitution Drafting Assembly Member, Al-Hadi Bouhramra, considered it a step in the “right direction” to enable the Libyans to exercise their right to a referendum.
A member of the Constitution Drafting Assembly said that the transitional objects are limited to the establishment of the country for the permanent stage through the referendum, stressing that this is what the Council of State adopted, and calling on the HOR to approve the referendum law.
Bouhramra said in a statement to ArraedLG on Saturday that the referendum on the draft constitution is “the last step to complete the constitutional path that the people started by an election, and will complete it by voting on the referendum.”
“The referendum on the constitution is the end of a transitional path and the beginning of a permanent path based on building the institutions of the state on a document adopted by the Libyans in all their sects and regions,” he said.
The HOR has three proposals for the referendum law and will vote on one of them
A member of the HOR Ali Al-Takali said on Saturday, tho vote on a referendum law is a right of the HOR, based on the political agreement, and the Supreme Council of State has an advisory role.
Al-Takali said in a statement to Arraed LG that the HOR has three proposals, one of which is the proposal submitted by the Assembly, the second proposed by the Electoral Commission, and the last is the proposal voted by the Supreme Council of the State, adding that the Council will vote on one of these proposals.
Al-Takali said that the HOR did not meet since the week before last, expecting the meeting this week to consider the subject of the referendum. He noted that there is no specific time to vote on the referendum law.
He also commented that the draft constitution presented had some shortcomings, but added that the constitution from time to time can be modified, and the importance of the constitution right now is critical to get out of the transitional phase and enter the permanent phase.
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