Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Dbeibah said, in a video statement on Tuesday that he will not allow new transitional stages, and that his government will not retreat from performing the role assigned to it until the elections are achieved, stressing that the unity government will continue to perform its work until the power is handed over to an elected body elected.
He also accused “the political class that has dominated the country over the past years, of dragging Libya into the square of division and chaos again,” denouncing their attempts to extend their time in office without regard to the wishes of the Libyan people, “who are tired of them continuing in their positions for several years,” as he described it.
Dbeibah described the Libyan situation under his government as far from wars and fighting, stressing that his government is working on development projects and improving services, and that talking about wars has become a thing from the past during his time in office.
He indicated his indifference to what the “dominant political class” plans, as he described, whose only concern is fraud, confusion and extension for itself at the expense of Libyans, according to him.
He accused the “political class” of issuing laws without a quorum or regulations, and challenged the politicians of that “class” to reopen The Constitutional Court, which they closed in order to continue issuing decisions without supervision or accountability.
Dbeibah described the members of the House of Representatives’ decision to withdraw confidence from his government as a fraud by a few of them, and demanded that the “MPs” present the vote live on air to confirm its validity.
He also described the attempts to form a new government that it would produce a parallel government whose goal would be money and positions, and that the supporters of forming this government allied themselves for the sake of their interests after they had previously claimed hostility on media outlets, describing the “military and Muslim brotherhood” alliance as an alliance for power and money that stole the dream of two and a half million voters.
He indicated his readiness “to reconsider his candidacy for the presidential elections if it is for the benefit of the people and country, and if the remaining candidates pledge to take the same decision.”
He also described the road map that the “HoR” members are working on as “selling illusion” through which they are trying to extend their mandates for a year and a half or two years, noting that he has begun holding extensive consultations to develop a precise, specific and unambiguous action plan to implement the elections next June, noting that there’s a possibility of resorting to an electronic referendum in the event that the High National Elections Commission is unable to guarantee the holding of elections.
Dbeibah’s speech comes after the House of Representatives voted on Monday on a draft decision of the Roadmap Committee that the vote to choose one of the candidates will be held in Thursday’s session.
Dbeibah’s words seem to be a clear and direct challenge to the decisions of the HoR, which raises several questions about the fate of the current government, and the possibilities that exist before the “HoR” in the event that Dbeibah refuses to hand over the prime minister position to the one who will be named by the HoR on Thursday, which seems to be the closest to obtaining, according to Dbeibah’s statement.
Political parties accuse Dbeibah of violating his pledges he made in Geneva not to run for the presidential elections if he takes over as prime minister. He announced his candidacy on 21 November for the presidential election race, which could cause a major problem for the electoral process.
The current situation appears to be bleak after Dbeibah’s last speech and his insistence on continuing to head the government, while the House of Representatives insists on moving towards forming a new government and electing a PM for it next Thursday, which brings to mind the specter of political infighting that the country has suffered from in the past years.
