Libya’s parliament removes Speaker Saleh after 12 years as discontent grows

Eastern-based parliament votes to replace longtime speaker with Al-Salhin Abdelnabi al-Obeidi.Libya’s eastern-based House of Representatives has elected a new speaker, ending Aguila Saleh’s 12-year tenure amid growing discontent among lawmakers over his leadership.Legislators in the 170-member House voted on Tuesday to replace Saleh with Al-Salhin Abdelnabi al-Obeidi, the parliament’s spokesperson announced on X.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Can international diplomacy find a way forward in Libya?list 2 of 3Rival Libya factions sign deal to hold national elections within two yearslist 3 of 3For Libya, the Hormuz crisis can be a trap or an opportunityend of listThe vote came a day after 98 members of the House approved a new system limiting the speaker and deputy speakers to a single 12-month term.The change ended an arrangement that had been in place since the chamber’s first leadership was elected in 2014.“There was significant discontent among MPs with the previous leadership over numerous errors,” lawmaker Jebree Oheida told the Reuters news agency. “We tried to engage with the leadership to address these issues, but to no avail. Among these errors were decisions made without consulting MPs.”The vote was overseen by Second Deputy Speaker Misbah Douma, according to the Libya-observer" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="214537" data-entity-type="organization">Libya Observer.Saleh has previously rejected the proceedings, saying the initial vote to limit the speaker’s term was “not official and had no legal effect”, according to the outlet. He had also announced that he had cancelled the session he had called for Tuesday.The developments come as Libya remains divided politically and militarily between the United Nations-recognised government in Tripoli led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, and a rival administration in the east backed by renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar.Haftar’s camp relies in particular on the parliament, which sits in the eastern city of Benghazi under their control.