By Libya Herald staff.
9 November 2014:
Feeling empowered by the Supreme Court decision on the legality of the House of Representatives (HoR), the . . .[restrict]Tripoli-based administration under Omar Al-Hassi is setting its sights on expanding its control to the whole of Libya, a spokesman has said.
“Mr Hassi came to power by the General National Congress (GNC) so his government is totally legal,” head of the foreign media department and authorised spokesman for the Hassi administration Jamal Zubia claimed. “Now he is the only one with authority to control and he will follow up to try and control all of the country.”
He explained that the Hassi government was created by the GNC because Abdulah Al-Thinni, who Zubia described as “the ex-Prime Minister,” had left the capital and gone to Tobruk.
“He left it in a big mess: there was no petrol, no electricity, a high crime rate and no goods on the shelves,” Zubia told the Libya Herald. “So the thuwar went to the GNC and told them you have to get back and form a new government – the National Salvation Government.”
He said that, although he was unsure how many members of the GNC had been involved in this decision to establish a new government, he believed that many members of the former parliament had been waiting for the court’s decision but would now return to Tripoli and take up their roles once again.
Zubia said that he believed the HoR was obliged to obey the court’s ruling. “Even the EU said everybody should obey the law because the Supreme Court is the highest court, so everybody should obey the decision,” Zubia said. “The HoR is not in power any more.”
He added that the next step would be for new elections.
“I believe it’s time to rebuild Libya now, forget about the past and build the country in a democratic way,” Zubia said. [/restrict]