Khaled Al-Mishri - in his capacity as Head of the High Council of State - announced the invalidity of the decision of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aqila Saleh, to withdraw the title of Commander-in-Chief of the Army from the Presidential Council, due to its violation of Article (12) of the additional provisions of the political agreement signed in Skhirat in 2015.
In a letter addressed to Saleh and published by the media office of the High Council of State on its Facebook page, Al-Mishri explained the reasons for the invalidity of the decision by referring to the second paragraph of Article (08) of the political agreement regarding the jurisdiction of the Council of Ministers, which was reconstituted by Article (01) of the Eleventh Constitutional Amendment issued on November 26, 2018, which stipulates that the amended political agreement shall guarantee, in accordance with what was agreed upon, the formation of the Presidential Council of a President, two deputies, and a separate Prime Minister, to the constitutional declaration.
The letter explained that accordingly, the Presidential Council is the body that exercises the powers of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army, adding that Article (12) of the additional provisions of the political agreement stipulates that if it is necessary to make a subsequent amendment to the Constitutional Declaration that affects the agreement or one of the institutions emanating from it directly or indirectly, the House of Representatives and the High Council of State are obligated to agree among themselves on the formula of this amendment, provided that it is finally approved without amendment by the House of Representatives in accordance with the mechanism contained in the Constitutional Declaration.
Al-Mishri said that the decision taken by Saleh in the session of August 13, regarding withdrawing the title of Chief Commander of the Libyan Army is considered invalid for violating Article (12) due to the lack of agreement with the High Council of State.
The House of Representatives issued a decision to end the term of the Government of National Unity and withdraw the powers of the Chief Commander from the Presidential Council and grant them to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aqila Saleh.
