TRIPOLI, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Libyan eastern-based parliament on Tuesday approved the amendment of the current UN-sponsored political agreement and granted the Tripoli-based Presidential Council the specialty to choose senior military and security leaders.
"The parliament voted to grant the Presidential Council the specialty to choose senior military and security leaders, following the completion of the amendment of the political agreement, which should lead to the restructuring of a new three-member presidential council instead of the current one," Mohammad Abdullaha, a Libyan parliament member told Xinhua.
Abdullah pointed out that there is optimism in the parliament on the consensus on these proposals to amend the agreement, and expected the amendment to be completed in a few weeks.
Article 8 of the Libyan UN-sponsored political agreement is one of the most important obstacles facing its implementation, according to which the appointment of all senior military and security leaders is the specialty of the Presidential Council.
The eastern-based parliament and army reject the article, demanding that the parliament would have the authority to choose supreme security and army leaders.
The parliament Speaker, Agila Saleh Issa, also opposes the composition of the current Presidential Council, demanding that it be composed of a president and only two deputies, instead of nine.
Following UN-sponsored dialogue meetings in Tunisia later in September, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) announced that representatives of both the parliament and the Higher Council of State have reached an agreement on restructuring the Presidential Council, reducing its membership to three and separating it from the government.
UNSMIL confirmed that the preliminary agreement will be followed by consultations within the parliament and the Higher Council of State and a final round to discuss the remaining issues of political agreement.
UNSMIL also announced on Sunday that meetings between dialogue committees of the parliament and the Higher Council of State will be resumed on Saturday.
