By Moataz al-Majbari
TRIPOLI
Libya's elected parliament on Thursday voted to reduce the number of cabinet portfolios to ten for an incoming emergency government that Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni has been tasked with drawing up, an MP has said.
"MPs agreed that the emergency government will not include more than ten ministries," MP Idriss Farag told Anadolu Agency.
According to representative Tariq al-Jeroshi, 85 of 103 MPs in attendance voted in favor of the motion.
The large number of cabinet portfolios in the incoming government had been one of the reasons why Libya's House of Representatives had rejected an 18-member cabinet lineup proposed by al-Thinni one day earlier and postponed a confidence vote in the new government, one MP told AA on condition of anonymity.
Other reasons for the postponement, he said, had included the objection of some MPs to al-Thinni's maintaining his post as defense minister in the new government and the proposed reinstatement of former interior minister Ali Shawayel.
Libya has been dogged by political instability since the 2011 ouster and death of longstanding ruler Muammar Gaddafi.
Ever since, rival militias have locked horns, bringing violence to Libya's main cities, including capital Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi – while the Libyan government has appeared absent from the scene.
The sharp divisions have yielded two rival seats of government in the country, each of which has its own institutions.
Two assemblies currently vie for legislative authority: the newly-elected House of Representatives, which convenes in the eastern city of Tobruk; and the General National Congress, which – even though its mandate ended in August – continues to convene in capital Tripoli.
The two parliaments support two different governments respectively headquartered in the two cities.
www.aa.com.tr/en
