BENGHAZI: Libya found itself with rival governments after parliament approved a new cabinet in a challenge to unity premier Abdulhamid Dbeibah, who has refused to cede power until elections.
In a vote some fear could help tip the conflict-scarred nation into another round of violence, the cabinet of former interior minister Fathi Bashagha was approved by 92 of 101 members present, speaker Aguila Saleh said.
The House of Representatives (HoR) in the eastern city of Tobruk had designated Bashagha as prime minister earlier this month.
It had tasked him with forming a government to replace that of Dbeibah, based in the capital Tripoli in the west of the country and deemed by Saleh as having outlived its mandate.
But Dbeibah has repeatedly said he will only hand power to an elected government.
The construction tycoon had been appointed a year earlier as part of United Nations-led efforts to draw a line under a decade of conflict following the 2011 revolt that toppled dictator Moamer Kadhafi.
He was to lead the country until elections in December, but they were indefinitely postponed and Saleh, a rival presidential candidate, argued that Dbeibah’s mandate was finished.
On Tuesday, the cabinet of 29 ministers, three vice-prime ministers and six ministers of state, including just two women, was put before the legislature.
Each lawmaker was asked to vote “confidence” or “no confidence” when the names were read out, but Saleh announced the government had been approved before all the names were announced.
Dbeibah’s government swiftly issued a statement condemning what it said was a “blatantly” fraudulent vote.
“Several members of the HoR said they were not in Tobruk but were counted” among those present, “which still didn’t reach quorum”, it said.
But in a video message, Bashagha insisted the vote had been “clear, transparent and public”.
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