The #HOR held two sessions in the past two days, leading to an alleged vote of confidence of the Chamber to the new government formed by
But what actually happened? Tahra investigated on the legality of the voteand here is what we found :
After a first session on 28/02 where quorum of 50%+1 members (=95 members out of 188 sworn members, or 88 out of 174 active members) could not be reached, the vote was postponed to 1/03. After the session the Speaker affirmed that the confidence was obtained with 92 votes
The Media Director of the HOR, Hamid al-Safi, added that 101 MPs were present, and 92 voted yes, (incl. 13 “electronic” votes) Spokesperson Abdullah Blihaq stated that some members’ families were threatened, which is why their names were not disclosed during the live broadcast.
Careful review of the live broadcast and signing sheets show that these numbers are not correct.
1. The rapporteur only called out the names of 88 members, not 101, with only 71 members heard responding present.
2. Some names were left out, while 2 MPs, Salah Al-Shaibani Al-Zobik and Ibrahim Karnfouda, were counted but stated that they did not attend the session and were not in Tobruk. Indeed they were called by the rapporteur, but we don’t hear them answer.
3. The MPs who are part of the new government should not be allowed to vote, as per art. 177 of HOR Regulations). This includes MP Hamid Houma, nominated as Minister of Defense, as well as the nominated Deputy PM, Khaled Alosta, who are both signed as attending nonetheless
4. Lastly HoR regulations requires the presence of the MP to vote, and does not recognize “electronic” votes.
5. HoR regulations are clear that a session to be valid requires 50%+1 quorum (art. 7 & 97)
In conclusion, whether we count 188 or 174 members, this quorum was not reached in yesterday’s vote as only 85 members legally attended the session to grant confidence to Fathi #Bashaga‘s government.
These irregularities, added to the “No” vote of the High State Council last week, seriously questions the legitimacy of this new government and its recognition.
