The vote confirming Ahmed Maitig was invalidated soon after he was sworn in on Sunday, May 5, 2014.
The political instability in Libya appears set to continue after the Transitional Parliament or General National Congress on Sunday, May 4, 2014, rejected the appointment of Ahmed Omar Maitig soon after a vote to confirm the process.
Media said hours after Ahmed Maitig was sworn in, the First Deputy Speaker and Acting Congress Chairman, Ezzedine Al-Amawi, declared the vote invalid. He said Maitig failed to reach the quorum of 120 votes necessary to elect a Prime Minister and instructed former PM Abdullah Al-Thinni - who resigned three weeks ago - to continue to act.
After a chaotic session, Maitig, 42, a businessman from Misrata, was initially reported to have mustered 113 votes of the 120 needed under the Constitution in a vote of confidence. But the Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Saleh al-Makhzoun, said Maitig had in fact clinched 121 votes - apparently after a recount – thereby defeating Omar al-Hassi, a professor.
The vote was originally scheduled for April 29, 2014, but it was interrupted when gunmen stormed the General National Congress, forcing the deputies to leave. The building has been stormed several times by gunmen over the last one and half years. Ahmed Omar Maitig would have been the fifth Prime Minister to be appointed in the past two and half years.
Former PM Abdullah Al-Thinni resigned just one month after his election, giving as reason the attack on his family by gunmen. He replaced Ali Zeidan who was voted out of office after rebels exported crude oil without government permission. The rogue tanker transporting the oil was ultimately seized by US forces and returned to the country.
Libya has seen a severe deterioration in security since the end of Muammar Gaddafi's rule in 2011. Other challenges facing the country are growing terrorism, Islamist militancy, abductions of foreign diplomats and the blockage of some oil terminals in the east by separatists. Elections for a new Parliament to replace the General National Congress are expected later this year.
