August 22, 2016•Update: August 24, 2016
By Moataz al-Majbari
BENGHAZI, Libya
Libya’s Tobruk-based parliament refused Monday to back the UN-backed unity government, in a setback to efforts aimed at resolving the conflict in the war-torn country.
“The Council of Deputies [parliament] has refused to give a vote of confidence to the government lineup proposed by Sayez al-Sarraj,” MP Tarek al-Garrouchi told Anadolu Agency.
He said 61 MPs voted against the Cabinet lineup during Monday’s session, which was attended by 101 lawmakers.
“Only one MP voted in favor of the government lineup, while other lawmakers abstained from voting,” he said.
“Al-Sarraj’s Cabinet lineup does not meet the aspirations of the Libyans,” al-Garrouchi said, citing that some MPs have called on the prime minister-designate to form a mini Cabinet.
Libya has remained in a state of turmoil since 2011, when a bloody uprising ended with the ouster and death of longtime strongman Muammar Gaddafi.
Since then, the country’s stark political divisions have yielded two rival seats of government, one in Tobruk and another in Tripoli, each of which boasts its own military capacity and legislative assembly.
Late last year, Libya’s rival governments signed a UN-sponsored agreement that established a national unity government.
The UN-backed unity government, however, has remained beset by difficulties and has yet to apply its governing mandate across the troubled North African country.
