The Second Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives (HoR) Al-Hadi Al-Saghir submitted his resignation to the Speaker of the House, Aqila Saleh. Al-Saghir attributed the resignation to “the difficulty of tackling the aspirations and hopes of the nation and its national entitlements in light of the available work tools and mechanisms."

Al-Saghir expressed his hope for the House of Representatives to accept his resignation with immediate effect, hoping the HoR would elect a new Second Deputy Speaker from among the MPs of the Fezzan region (south Libya). 

The HoR voted by majority in February 2023 to elect Al-Saghir as Second Deputy Speaker; a position that remained vacant after the election of the former Second Deputy Speaker, Hamid Houma, a Minister of Defense in the government appointed by HoR.

A number of MPs demanded previously that Al-Saghir be suspended and referred to investigation after accusing him of exploiting his job for his personal interests and monopolizing appointments to high positions in the state for representatives of the Fezzan region.

In an HoR session on Monday, Speaker Saleh said that he would not accept the referral of any member of the HoR to investigation before lifting their immunity, and he then demanded that the session be turned into a closed session because he would review sensitive matters.

After the session, sources confirmed that the focus of the conversation was about suspicions of corruption that revolved around Al-Saghir and the members’ demands for his dismissal, adding that massive pressure was put on Al-Saghir to submit his resignation in exchange for avoiding a filing of criminal charges against him.