By Libya Herald reporter.
Tobruk, 16 August 2015:
Potential prime ministers and government ministers have been meeting in Tobruk with members of the . . .[restrict]House of Representatives. Former prime minister Ali Zeidan, who name has been mentioned for the job, was in the eastern town last week to meet members (and is due back again this week), as have been other potential candidates, including Education Minister Fathi Al-Majbri and Aref Nayed, Libyan ambassador to the UAE.
“It is not a formal process,” an HoR official explained, pointing out that the meetings were outside the HoR and that members were talking with possible candidates to see if they should be supported.
No decision on who to support is expected tomorrow, Monday, when the HoR meets, the official added. That would probably happen in a week’s time. Tomorrow’s session, he said, was likely to be dominated by events in Sirte.
The HoR has decided to hand UN Special Envoy Bernardino Leon just two names for the post of prime minister and one of the deputy prime ministers, leaving it up to him and the Dialogue members to decide who gets which position. A decision on that made last week. HoR members claim that Leon had previously told them that the prime ministership and one of the deputy posts would be their choice, and the other deputy being the choice of the General National Congress. This has never been officially announced.
Meanwhile, there are reports today that Otman Basir, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Canada’s University of Waterloo, whose name was being mentioned as prime minister and who has had strong backing among some HoR members, has pulled out of the race. This, however, has not been confirmed. [/restrict]