The member of the Legal Committee of the Libyan Political Forum, Abdulkader Hawili, spoke about the issue of the authority of the next president in Libya, and confirmed that the problem “will not stop at how the president is elected, whether by parliament or directly by the people.”
Hawili expected, in his interview with Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper, to resolve the issue during the upcoming forum sessions, revealing the possibility of the forum’s discussions being extended to “demanding the amendment of the February Committee’s proposals, which were included in the Constitutional Declaration, specifically with regard to the powers of the president of the country.”
The member of the High Council of State in Tripoli, justified the secret of this interest in being “the first experience of the Libyans to elect a president for their country, after overthrowing a regime that they did not elect that lasted for 42 years, and was preceded by a monarchy.”
“The forum’s sessions will discuss all the articles of the constitutional rule proposal, including the president’s powers.”
Hawili noted that some believe that “what was granted to the president was too much; therefore, these powers must be reduced, in light of their view that absolute power is an absolute corruption.”
Regarding his position on how to elect the president, the member of the Legal Committee added, “Everyone saw how the leaders of the previous legislative and executive authorities had controlled their institutions, and were alone in the decision even though they were not elected by the people. Therefore, no one can speculate about what a president who will be elected and supported by the people might do, especially in the absence of a constitution.”
He said that “the chances of electing the president directly from the people increase due to everyone’s desire to participate in the elections,” as well as “the existence of fears that the parliament will be governed by its alliances and blocs, and the election process within it will not escape from suspicions of buying votes in favor of a person.”
For his part, the head of the “Silvium” Foundation for Research and Studies, Libyan political analyst Jamal Shalouf, in his interview with Asharq Al-Awsat, considered that the debate over the comparison between the process of electing the president by the people, or by parliament, is “just an attempt by (Muslim Brotherhood) and the Islamist politicians in Libya to distract everyone from their real goal, which is to keep the position of president with the same very limited powers.
“Many do not remember, unfortunately, that the Libyan Parliament discussed this problem before, and voted by 141 votes in August 2014 on the proposal to elect the direct president from the people,” Shallouf said.
The head of the Silvium Foundation for Research and Studies added that “(Muslim Brotherhood) wanted to repeat the Tunisian experience, as the Ennahda movement there sought to weaken the presidency and strengthen the parliament. The Islamists in Libya since 2014 have succeeded in this by spreading fear in the people and tampering with their mentality, speaking of the return of dictatorship, and therefore the powers of the president set by the (February Committee) are limited and restricted by the authority of Parliament … and if they succeed in their plan, we may have a collision course between Parliament and the Presidency.”
Speaking to the newspaper, Shalouf warned against reducing “the danger of this scheme by relying on the Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamists movement not having an influential bloc in parliament,” and that they “intend to approach alliances inside and outside parliament, far from the size of seats, and they have opportunities to make deals and negotiate with some social components, and in Every election there is political money, as well as the possibility of the intervention of armed militias loyal to them.
Researcher Jamal Shalouf believes, “In addition to intimidating people from the specter of a new Gaddafi inauguration, (Muslim Brotherhood) may also say that if the president is elected by the people, the results may come in favor of a personality that not everyone may agree with, while if he was elected before Parliament will ensure the members among themselves to agree, and distance from the beginning of the controversial figures.
Shallouf concluded his speech: “The real challenge facing activists, politicians and human rights defenders in Libya is to “uncover and abort this Muslim Brotherhood scheme, and work to find a balance between the legislative and executive powers in a way that serves the future of the country.”
The member of the High Council of State, Mohammad Muazib, supports controlling the president’s powers for a specific period of time, saying, “In the absence of deep-rooted political parties … there will still be fear of the return of individual rule, especially if there are no controls.”
