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By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 21 January 2014:
The General National Congress (GNC) today announced that it had failed to get a quorum to . . .[restrict]proceed with a vote of no confidence against Prime Minister Ali Zeidan.
In a statement released today, 99 Congress members confirmed their intention to withdraw confidence in Zeidan, despite admitting that they did not get support from the prerequisite number of 120 Congress members. The 99 said their signatures gave a message to the government expressing dissatisfaction with its performance.
Independent Congressman from Zlitan Abdullah Jwan described the current situation in the GNC as “major chaos” and added that Congress members were changing their minds in a flash.
“Some Congress members visited Zeidan in his office several times to try and persuade him to submit his resignation,” Jwan told the Libya Herald. He added that there had not yet been any comment from Zeidan on this.
There had also been a separate verbal agreement reached among some political blocs to withdraw the confidence in Zeidan, Jwan said. These members apparently put forward the names of three ministers who, they said, could temporarily run the government until Zeidan could be replaced.
These were the Acting Interior Minister, Sadiq Abdulkareem, the Minister of Higher Education, Mohamed Hassan, or Defence Minister Abdullah Al-Thinni.
In another move, the Ya Bilady (My country), Independent Opinion, Democratic Convergence, and Home blocks agreed to choose a “national figure” as an alternative to Zeidan before proceeding with any no-confidence vote, Jwan said. However, the Justice and Construction Party, the Martyrs block and some independent Congress members did not agree, insisting on an immediate call of no-confidence.
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