Libya’s eastern parliament ends Saleh’s 12-year rule as reunification efforts advance

After 12 years leading Libya’s eastern-based parliament, Aguila Saleh has been replaced under a new system that gives the speaker just one year in office. Lawmakers elected Al-Salhin Abdelnabi al-Obeidi on Tuesday, according to Al Jazeera. The change comes as competing diplomatic initiatives seek to reunite the oil- and gas-rich country, whose rival governments remain divided politically and militarily.

The spokesperson for the 170-seat House of Representatives announced the result on X. A day earlier, 98 lawmakers had approved rules restricting the speaker and both deputies to a single 12-month term. That decision swept aside the leadership arrangement in place since 2014, when the chamber first elected its leaders. Tuesday’s vote also installed Tarek al-Ashtar as first deputy speaker and Mesbah Douma as second deputy speaker.

A leadership revolt meets a legal challenge

The push for change followed frustration inside the chamber. Lawmaker Jebree Oheida told Reuters that MPs had tried unsuccessfully to resolve complaints with the previous leadership. Among their objections, he said, were decisions taken without consulting members. His account presented the replacement as the outcome of an internal dispute over how parliament was being run, rather than simply a scheduled handover.

Lawmakers had tried to address their grievances with the leadership but got nowhere, MP Jebree Oheida told Reuters.

Saleh had already challenged the process. According to the Libya Observer, cited by Al Jazeera, he dismissed the initial term-limit vote as unofficial and without legal force. He also said he had cancelled the Tuesday session that he himself had called. The vote nevertheless went ahead under the oversight of Second Deputy Speaker Misbah Douma, the Libya Observer reported. Saleh’s objections leave the leadership change contested by the man it displaced.

The incoming speaker represents Tobruk in eastern Libya and belongs to the same tribe as Saleh. Al-Obeidi has also chaired parliament’s Libyan-Turkish friendship committee. His election replaces a figure long regarded as a firm ally of military commander Khalifa Haftar, whose camp relies heavily on the eastern parliament. The chamber sits in Benghazi, a city controlled by Haftar’s forces.

A divided state, with two diplomatic tracks

Analysts cited by Al Jazeera said Saleh appeared to have lost ground as Haftar’s sons strengthened their positions, particularly Saddam Haftar. Emadeddin Badi of London-based Chatham House interpreted Saleh’s removal as part of Saddam Haftar’s effort to concentrate decision-making in eastern Libya and build a political role. That is an analyst’s assessment of the power shift, alongside lawmakers’ stated complaints about Saleh’s leadership.

The wider divide remains between the United Nations-recognised government in Tripoli, headed by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, and the rival eastern administration backed by Haftar. In August, representatives of the opposing camps signed an agreement in Tripoli that could allow presidential and parliamentary elections within two years. Brokered by the UN Support Mission in Libya, the “4+4 committee” agreement seeks to settle legal and institutional disputes that have repeatedly obstructed the country since Muammar Gaddafi’s overthrow in 2011.

A separate US reunification initiative is being led by Massad Boulos, President Donald Trump’s senior adviser for Arab and African affairs. The next developments to watch are how the new parliamentary leadership takes shape amid Saleh’s objections, and whether the UN-mediated election agreement and the separate American effort can move Libya’s divided institutions towards reunification.