Benghazi: Libya’s parliamentary speaker called Monday for a new interim government to be established in the capital Tripoli, noting that the current executive has outlived its mandate. Those tensions pit a long-standing ally of military strongman Khalifa Haftar against a Tripoli-based interim government formed last year. The government’s mandate “expired due to a censure motion voted by parliament, and the fact that its mandate ended on December 24,” speaker Aguila Saleh said during a parliamentary session, in the eastern port city of Tobruk. The call comes as United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged Libya’s political factions and parties to hold safe, “inclusive and credible” presidential and parliamentary elections as soon as possible. Saleh, himself a candidate in the postponed presidential election, called on the attorney general to “investigate” the government’s expenses along with “abuses of power” including nominations to posts.

Source: Libya Today January 18, 2022 04:58 UTC