Aldabaiba is refusing to give up power to his replacement to be chosen by the HoR on Thursday (Photo: From GNU archives).Tripoli, 8 February 2022:
Libya’s current de facto caretaker Prime Minister Abd Alhamid Aldabaiba is refusing to give his post to a newly selected prime minister. He made the statement during a speech he gave tonight.
He said his government will continue its work until it hands power to an elected authority. He said the no-confidence vote in the HoR in his government had been rigged.
The House of Representatives (HoR) plans to choose a new prime minister to replace Aldabaiba on Thursday. The two successful candidates are former Interior Minister and presidential election candidate Fathi Bashagha and civil servant Khaled Bibas.
The HoR considers Aldabaiba’s term in office to have expired on the planned election date of 24 December 2021. That is one reading of the Geneva Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) process that selected Aldabaiba to office. The international community insists that the LPDF process prescribed that the current government will only give up power once its replacement is elected.
Aldabaiba said he will not allow new transitional stages, will not retreat from his role in government, and will not allow a parallel government to tamper with the people’s money.
Without mentioning them by name, he attacked fellow Misratan Fathi Bashagha, Khalifa Hafter and HoR Speaker Ageela Saleh for seeking to choose a parallel authority for the sake of governance and money.
He said they had only recently accused each other of terrorism, being in the Muslim Brotherhood and involvement in a military coup - but today they are allies to seize legitimacy.