A proposal to merge the two governments in Libya to resolve the executive authority crisis

After all international and local attempts to resolve the crisis of executive authority in Libya failed, which returned to square one with the division of the country’s administration between two governments, one in Tripoli and the other in Benghazi, the political community was busy discussing a new initiative proposing to merge the two governments, after it was not possible to form a new government, and this issue stood still. A stumbling block in the implementation of general elections.

This proposal to merge the governments of the East and West is not entirely new, as it was previously proposed by the UN envoy to Libya Abdullah Batili last year without succeeding in convincing the Libyan parties of it, which is likely to be repeated this time as well, with the widening gap between Prime Ministers Abdul Hamid Dabaiba and Osama Hammad. And the legislative parties supporting them, the House of Representatives and the State.

A surprising statement

The story of the merger of the two Libyan governments disputing for power returned to the forefront after everyone thought it had been closed forever, after new statements by the Deputy Prime Minister of the Unity Government in Tripoli, Ramadan Abu Jinnah, at the beginning of the week, in which he expected the UN envoy to Libya, Abdullah Batili, to announce in the coming period, Merging the two competing governments into one government brings Libyans to the ballot boxes to choose a new authority.

In his sudden statements, Abu Jinnah also expected that “the UN envoy would suddenly announce the holding of elections after forming a committee of Libyan judges to supervise the voting process.” He continued, saying, “The only solution to get out of the crisis is to hold free and fair elections in which the citizen freely chooses whomever he wants. The failure to hold elections is directly related to the dispute between some foreign countries and the intersection of their interests and the different visions of each country, which clearly affects Libya and even creates confusion.” Observing the developments in the political arena.”

Statements like these were issued by an official the size of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Unity Government. Many believed that they did not come out of nowhere, and cannot be classified within the framework of expectations, and that there are movements and consultations that have already taken place on the ground to facilitate the merger of the two governments.

What doubled the interest in this new, old initiative in the street and the Libyan political community was its connection to the negotiations on the Libyan file that were conducted by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week in Cairo, and the presence of leaks about an Egyptian proposal with a Turkish consensus regarding resolving the executive authority crisis in Libya by merging the two governments together and keeping the two governments in place. Ali Al-Dabaiba and Hammad are appointed prime minister and deputy prime minister, amid questions about the extent of acceptance of this step by both Libyan parties, its realism and its chances of success.

Denied by the House of Representatives

The features of openness to discuss the proposal to unify the Libyan executive authority in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, which appeared in the statements of the Deputy Prime Minister there, were matched by identical statements from the Libyan Parliament denying the circulation of this proposal in general and in detail, which reduces the chances of its success, despite the lack of comment by Osama Hammad’s government on Benghazi is still there.

The media advisor to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Fathi Al-Marimi, confirmed that “the issue of merging the unity government headed by Abdul Hamid Al-Dabaiba and the Libyan government headed by Osama Hammad is out of the question so far.”

Al-Marimi said, “The plan for a political solution to the crisis of holding presidential and parliamentary elections in Libya has been agreed upon between the House of Representatives and the State, and all that remains is to form a new government to implement it.” He added, “By forming a new government that will supervise the elections, all transitional stages will end,” noting that “the international community is putting great pressure on the Libyan parties to speed up the holding of elections and form a unified government that will supervise them in all parts of the country.”

The bear refused

In contrast to Al-Marimi, a member of the House of Representatives, Idris Al-Maghribi, threw the ball in the court of the Tripoli government, and accused it of obstructing the implementation of all proposals to form a new executive authority, saying, “Parliament presented a proposal to form a unified government that would lead the country to hold parliamentary and presidential elections, but the head of the unity government, Abdul Hamid Al-Dabaiba rejected this proposal.”

Al-Maghrabi believed that “whether Dabaiba intends to run for the next elections or not, his obstruction of establishing a new government is unacceptable and unjustified, as the new government is necessary to reach the elections.”

Al-Maghrabi revealed that the proposal to merge the two governments is real and has actually been discussed without making significant progress. “We made attempts to merge the Dabaiba government and the Osama Hammad government to reach a unified government that would take us to the elections, but they failed due to the insistence of both parties on handing over to a new government.”

An unlikely proposition

For his part, Member of Parliament Abdel Moneim Al-Arfi denied the existence of this proposal, completely ruled out the possibility of merging the governments of Benghazi and Tripoli, and stressed that “the news circulating about a proposal to merge the two governments is incorrect, and it is unlikely.”

Al-Arfi stressed that “the House of Representatives adheres to the outcomes of the 6+6 Committee and the constitutional amendment stipulates the formation of a unified government that will hold elections,” noting that “the current division in the executive authority is the main reason for not adopting the general budget despite the approaching end of the first quarter of the new year.” .

He concluded that “Parliament’s position on the unity government is consistent and considers it to have expired since the withdrawal of confidence from it. Therefore, the supervision of the Abdul Hamid Dabaiba government over the upcoming elections is unacceptable and cannot be accepted under any form.”

International pressure

Commenting on this new idea that occupied the Libyan political arena, and the opportunities for its implementation given the current political situation, political researcher Muhammad Al-Anezi considered that “there is international pressure being exerted on the Libyan parties to dismantle the governments of the East and West and merge them into one government led by Al-Dabaiba, as a solution that satisfies all parties.” “The struggle over executive power will be ended by sharing it among the competitors for it,” but he expected that this proposal would ignite new conflicts that would destroy the idea from its foundations. He said, “The success of the proposal to merge the two governments depends on the understanding of sharing the centers of influence and money and the nature of the ministerial portfolios that Dabaiba will grant to members of the eastern government. If the understanding on these issues had been easy, the current executive division would not have occurred in the first place, which is driven by the struggle over these sensitive positions.”

Al-Enezi predicted, “Even if we assume that Al-Dabaiba agreed to share the centers of economic and political dominance in his hand with his opponents in the East, I am more likely to play his old game when he granted powerful ministries to the East and then later stripped them of their powers by relying on influential advisors in them. The decision will not pass.” Without their consent, this will return the conflict to its early stages and fragment the new government after merging it, as happened on previous occasions.”