The Head of the Presidential Council, Mohammed Menfi, issued a decision to form the Board of Directors of the National Referendum and Survey Commission, headed by Osman Abu Bakr Al-Gajeji: the former Chairman of the High National Elections Commission.
Menfi decided on August 11 to establish a National Referendum and Survey Commission to implement the referendum, supervise it, sort its results and announce them. The decision specified the Commission’s competencies to issue executive regulations and procedures necessary to implement the referendum process according to the electoral districts approved in accordance with the applicable legislation.
The decision allowed the Commission, in order to achieve its purposes, to accredit local and international observers, as well as local and international media professionals, in order to ensure the integrity of the referendum process through direct or indirect presentation, while ensuring neutrality and transparency, to achieve its specific objectives, provided that the topics that require the referendum process are determined and approved by the Head of the Presidential Council.
The Deputy Head of the Presidential Council, Abdullah Al-Lafi, announced his rejection of Menfi's decision regarding the formation of the Board of Directors, and he pointed out that “any unilateral decision issued by any of the three members, whether the President or the two deputies, is void and has no legal effect.”
Observers believe that Menfi's decision to establish the National Referendum and Survey Commission, and then the decision to form a Board of Directors for it, is a step prior to freezing the work of the House of Representatives and the High Council of State through a national referendum supervised by the new commission.
