Libya’s parliament on Thursday appointed former interior minister, Fathi Bachagha to replace Abdelhamid Dbeibah as head of government in a controversial vote, a challenge to interim premier Abdulhamid Dbeibah’s administration.
The parliament voted unanimously to give confidence to Fathi Bachagha as head of government,” parliamentary spokesman Abdallah Bliheq said after a session in the eastern city of Tobruk. The parliament had selected two candidates out of a total of seven: Fathi Bachagha, 59, and the outsider Khaled Al-Bibass, 51, a former senior official in the same ministry.
The move came hours after an assassination attempt on Dbeibah, whose vehicle was sprayed with small-arms fire in the capital Tripoli. He escaped unharmed.
The lack of elections has seriously undermined international efforts to end a decade of chaos in the oil-rich North African nation.
However, Thursday’s move is expected to deepen divisions between rival factions in the war-stricken country. Libya has been racked by conflict since a NATO-backed uprising against longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.
The country was for years split between rival administrations in the east and west, each supported by myriad militias and foreign governments.
