About 74 deputies from the Libyan House of Representatives arrived in the city of Sabratha, in the west of the country, to participate in a consultative session, in preparation for electing a new speaker to replace the current president, Aqila Saleh, and to discuss granting confidence to the government to be formed, and at the same time a number of members of the House of Representatives meet in the city of Tobruk East of the country headed by Saleh.
Al-Jazeera correspondent in Sabratha, Nasser Shadid, stated that mini-meetings began between the deputies to discuss arrangements for the official session, which is expected to be held tomorrow, Tuesday, and requires the attendance of 90 deputies to complete the quorum of the parliament.
A member of the Libyan Presidency Council, Abdullah Al-Lafi, arrived at the meeting venue to meet with the deputies.
Parallel session
Parallel to the Sabratha session, a consultative session began for the House of Representatives, which was held in the city of Tobruk, eastern Libya, in the presence of the Speaker of the House, Aqeelah Saleh, the second deputy, Hamid Houmeh, and less than 20 members.
Members of the House of Representatives meeting in Tobruk are discussing arranging to hold an official session in the city of Benghazi or Sirte, with a full quorum, to give confidence to the government of national unity to be formed.
And some members of Parliament expressed their refusal to meet members of Parliament in Sabratha in order to re-elect the Presidency of Parliament and amend its internal regulations.
A side of a parallel session for members of the House of Representatives headed by Aqeelah Saleh in the city of Tobruk (Al-Jazeera)
The Al-Jazeera correspondent added that the law agreed upon by the Libyan parties in the National Political Forum in the city of Ghadames, in western Libya and in Tunis, provides for the election of a president from the Fezzan region in southern Libya, and the meeting in Sabratha discusses whether or not to grant confidence to the new government. The new government, Abdel Hamid Dabaiba, the names of the candidates to form the government.
This morning, mini-sessions took place between some MPs in Sabratha to discuss some contentious issues to achieve the necessary consensus to pass the new government.
Contentious issue
The Al-Jazeera correspondent added that among the contentious issues is the location of the meeting of the House of Representatives, whether there are safe conditions for holding, and whether the matter is in the city of Sirte, Tobruk or Benghazi.
On Sunday, the new head of the Presidency Council in Libya, Muhammad Al-Manfi, met with the Speaker of the House of Representatives, which was meeting in Tobruk, in the eastern city of Al-Qubbah.
During the meeting, the two officials discussed the latest developments in the country’s crisis.
A Libyan source told Al-Jazeera that the consultations included granting confidence to the new government, to be formed in the coming days.
These developments come after the election of the members of the Political Dialogue Forum in Geneva on February 5, under the auspices of the United Nations, the exiled as Chairman of the Presidential Council, and the membership of Musa Al-Koni, Abdullah Hussein Al-Lafi, and Abdel-Hamid Al-Dabaiba as Prime Minister.
That temporary authority runs the country's affairs until the holding of presidential and parliamentary elections on December 24th.
The new Libyan government needs to grant it confidence from the Tobruk Parliament in order for it to officially begin its duties, or it will be presented to the Dialogue Forum, according to the outcomes of the Geneva Dialogue.