By Libya Herald reporter.
Tunis, 7 July 2017:
Following the defeat of the militants on Benghazi, plans to relocate the House of Representatives (HoR) to the city from Tobruk are being dusted down and reassessed.
The HoR’s chief executive officer, Abdullah Al-Masri, has said that there will be a meeting in Benghazi next week with its acting mayor, Abdulrahman Elabbar, to prepare for the move.
There had been no official decision from the HoR on the move, Al-Masri explained, but it was now time to make plans.
Under the original legislation by the General National Congress which established the HoR, it was to be based in Benghazi. It went to Tobruk only because Benghazi was unsafe. The Libyan Political Agreement also effectively backs the Benghazi location.. It states in Article 16 that that the HoR should convene a session to consider its “interim” location – the inference being that eventually, once Benghazi is safe and secure, it would go there.
There is a small but powerful lobby within the HoR, not least its president, Ageela Saleh, who would prefer to remain in Tobruk. Until last October, the HoR had a committee to plan for the eventual move, but Saleh sacked the man running it.
