Aguila Saleh, the speaker of Libya’s eastern parliament, said the chamber would choose a new interim prime minister next week, but the incumbent rejected the move.
Salih said parliament would choose a new prime minister on Feb. 8 to replace Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, head of the Government of National Unity (GNU) that was appointed at the end of last year under United Nations aegis.
Dbeibah said that Saleh was conducting “a desperate attempt to renew division” and said the GNU will continue functioning until new elections are held.
Since last month’s failed presidential election, political maneuvering has intensified among factions and leaders across Libya’s fragmented political spectrum, endangering the prospects for peace.
After 18 months of relative calm, many Libyans fear a dispute over the interim government will derail any new effort to hold elections or spark major fighting among rival factions.
Until Dbeibah’s government was installed last year through a U.N.-backed process, Libya was ruled by rival governments de facto running parallel states in east and west.
In addition to continuing to recognize the GNU, Western countries have asked for new efforts to hold elections. The United Nations representative in Libya has stated that elections should take precedence over a new transitional government.
On Monday, Saleh said he opposed what he termed foreign interference in Libya.
Libya still lacks a clear constitution and commonly accepted rules governing its politics more than a decade after the NATO-backed uprising against Muammar Gaddafi.
Factional disputes over basic issues, like the eligibility of several leading presidential candidates, caused the election to collapse last month.
Many Libyans consider its existing institutions, including the parliament, to have become outdated during earlier transitional periods.
