Libya parliament confirms appointment of Ahmed Maiteeg as new premier
By Pol O Gradaigh and Nehal El-Sherif
05.05.2014 - published here
Cairo (dpa) - Libya's parliament on Monday confirmed the appointment of Ahmed Maiteeg as prime minister, the official Lana news agency reported.
The General National Congress published a formal resolution confirming the appointment and giving Maiteeg 15 days to nominate his cabinet, the report said.
"Ahmed Omar Maiteeg was appointed head of the transitional government and asked to form his cabinet and present it to the General National Congress for a confidence vote within 15 days from this decree," read the document signed by Speaker Nuri Abu Sahmein.
Abu Sahmein called his deputies and heads of the parliamentary committees for national security, defence, internal and foreign affairs for an emergency meeting to discuss the security situation in the country.
The decree came after a dispute about the validity of the procedures that led to Maiteeg taking the oath of office on Sunday evening.
The 42-year-old businessman received a vote of confidence from 121 of the parliament's 200 members after a lengthy session. However, many legislators were initially absent.
That led acting congress president Ezzedine al-Amawito to say overnight that the last few ballots were invalid because they were cast after he closed the session, leaving Maiteeg seven votes shy of the 120 required.
Al-Awami instead asked acting premier Abdullah al-Thini, who resigned three weeks ago citing an attack on his family, to stay on as caretaker premier.
London-based newspaper Al-Hayat reported Monday that Maiteeg is seen by some members of Congress as close to the Islamist camp, but quoted sources close to the new premier as denying that he had any partisan affiliations.
Al-Thini had been appointed by Congress after it voted out the last person in the job, Ali Zeidan.
Zeidan, who had been in conflict with the assembly's dominant Islamist faction for months, was weakened politically by his failure to prevent a tanker loaded with crude oil from setting sail from a rebel-controlled oil terminal in eastern Libya.
Libya's interim authorities, riven by factional struggles, have been unable to gain control over the myriad revolutionary brigades that sprung up during the 2011 revolt against longtime ruler Moamer Gaddafi.
