Libyan parliament chooses Fathi Bashagha as new prime minister

TRIPOLI, Libya

The Libyan House of Representatives on Thursday voted by majority for former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha to become the country's new prime minister.

The parliamentary session came while current Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh has vowed to continue in his post, adhering to the outcome of negotiations in 2020 under the intra-Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, which set the term of the transitional government at 18 months, extending it until June 2022.

A majority of lawmakers in the Tobruk-based legislative house also voted in favor of a proposal on the amendment of the country's "constitutional declaration."

The proposal stipulates the formation of a committee of 24 experts representing the nation's western, eastern, and southern regions to review disputed articles and make possible resulting amendments amid efforts to complete a draft constitution, parliament speaker Aguila Saleh said during the session.

The committee's members will be chosen equally between the lawmakers and Supreme Council of State, Saleh said, adding that it had been given a period of 45 days to finalize the amendments.

An amended draft constitution will then be referred directly to the country's High Electoral Commission for referendum, he said.

"If the amendments cannot be carried out after the expiration of this period, a committee formed by the House of Representatives and the state, within a month, will prepare a constitutional rule and binding electoral laws," said the parliament speaker.