By Houda Mzioudet
Tripoli, 26 June 2013:
GNC member from Benghazi, Abdulmonem Louhichi resigned yesterday shortly after the nomination of the new GNC . . .[restrict]president, Nuri Abu Sahmain.
He presented a written resignation to the first deputy GNC president Jumaa Ateega at the end of the voting for the new GNC president. Louhichi told the Libyan newsagency LANA that he had resigned in protest at the “poor performance of the GNC and its lack of objectivity and transparency”. He also accused Congress of “partisanship, with regional and tribal considerations”.
He explained that he and other GNC members had sought “to correct the course of the GNC, but all attemptsfailed.” Louhichi added that the GNC is still dominated by “partisanship and regionalism”, which “clearly affected the voting process” in the choice of the new GNC president. He stated that he therefore saw no point “in remaining in this post.
He apologised to the Libyan people and all those who had helped him reach Congress, for not being able to respond to their aspirations and goals for which they elected him.
Louhichi was among the nine candidates that ran for the job of GNC president. He received ten out of the 185 votes cast.
Born in 1953 in Benghazi, Louhichi obtained a Masters degree in Business Administration from the University of Texas in 1982. He sat as an independent GNC member for Benghazi. [/restrict]