In the city of Sirte (central Libya), on Monday afternoon, a session of the House of Representatives devoted to voting to give confidence to the government of national unity, headed by Abdel-Hamid al-Dabaiba, began.

The parliament session was chaired by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Agila Saleh, and the first and second MPs Fawzi Al-Nuwairi and Hamid Houma, with 132 members out of 178 members in attendance.

The Speaker of Parliament, Agila Saleh, expressed the aspiration of the Libyan people to include the political agreement in the constitutional declaration, before the vote on granting confidence to the government of national unity.

Al-Jazeera correspondent indicated that there are some points raised by a good number of participants in the session during their speeches, which they took turns to deliver, the most prominent of which was the proposal to postpone the voting session to give confidence to the Dabaiba government until Thursday, to give some time for further discussions and review the biographies of the ministers. As well as the vote to include the political agreement in the constitutional declaration before the vote on granting confidence to the government.

The head of the national unity government, Abdul Hamid al-Dabaiba, submitted a cabinet lineup consisting of 27 ministerial portfolios and 6 state ministers to the Presidency of the Council of Representatives to vote on granting it confidence.

In a speech before his arrival to Sirte to present his ministerial formation, Dabaiba appealed to members of Parliament not to miss the opportunity to unify their council and enable the government to carry out its duties.

Dabaiba added that he presented the best possible way in the ministerial formation, after discussions with all parties, indicating that the government in its current form was the product of the outcomes of the political dialogue, which stipulated that no one should be excluded.

The head of the national unity government called on the deputies not to "transfer the confidence-gaining procedure to another stage, and to obstruct the electoral process, which was recommended by the outcomes of the dialogue in Geneva."

The 42 members of the House of Representatives meeting in Tripoli (the National Congress) objected to the parliament session being limited to granting confidence to the national unity government, without including the outcomes of the political dialogue forum into the constitutional declaration, calling for the session to be postponed.

The prime minister presents the ministerial formation, accompanied by the results of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, to the House of Representatives for full approval in one package.

Libyans are waiting to give confidence to the Dabaiba government, hoping to end the division in power that has continued over the past years (Reuters)

The internal regulations of the House of Representatives require that the absolute majority of the 170 members of Parliament who have taken the constitutional oath must vote.

In other words, passing the government needs 86 votes.

If the House of Representatives gives confidence to the government, the full powers of the executive authority will transfer to it and to the Presidency Council, without any other measures.

In the event that granting confidence to the government fails, its file will be devolved to the Forum for Political Dialogue in accordance with the third paragraph of Article IV of the road map of the preliminary stage of the comprehensive solution.

The first in years

The head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, Jan Kubis, stressed, in a statement published by the UN mission, the importance of holding a session of the House of Representatives today in the city of Sirte, which is the first session in several years.

He also stressed that the parliament session is an important step towards restoring the unity and legitimacy of Libyan institutions, in order to achieve the unity, sovereignty and stability of Libya.

Kubis stressed the need not to obstruct these efforts under any pretext, including the spread of fake news, as he put it.

It is mentioned that the total number of parliamentarians is 200.

However, 12 seats in the city of Derna (east) did not have representatives elected in 2014;

Because the city was then under the control of armed groups, while more than 10 MPs died, either in traffic accidents, or were kidnapped and assassinated, or they died from the Corona virus, and one deputy resigned.

On February 5, the Forum for Political Dialogue elected a unified executive authority whose primary mission is to prepare for holding presidential and parliamentary elections on December 24th.

Libyans hope that this move will end years of armed conflict, as Haftar's forces are fighting the internationally recognized Libyan government for legitimacy and authority in this oil-rich country.

Yesterday, Sunday, the Libyan army of the Government of National Accord accused the forces of retired Major General Khalifa Haftar of refusing to open the coastal road Misurata-Sirte (west) for the passage of MPs to Sirte.