Next Libyan leader must have no criminal record and backing of 25 MPs

Parliament publishes list of 13 requirements

A list of criteria for Libya's new head of government was published after a parliamentary session. Reuters

Libya’s parliament has published a list of criteria for its new head of government to replace interim prime minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.

The 13 requirements, released after a session on Tuesday, include having an endorsement from 25 MPs and no criminal record.

Mr Dbeibah had called for a new government after presidential elections failed to take place on December 24, the same day that the interim government’s mandate expired.

The poll was delayed for at least another six months, because of disagreements over the final list of candidates. Controversial figures such as Saif Al Islam Qaddafi and Mr Dbeibah himself, as well we Gen Khalifa Haftar, were among the nominees.

Libya collapsed into years of violence after the 2011 removal and killing of dictator Muammar Qaddafi, who scrapped the country’s constitution in 1969.

The UN adviser to Libya, Stepanie Williams, had repeatedly called for the presidential vote to be hastened rather than for the focus to be on a new government.

Libya’s parliament, known as the House of Representatives, is headed by Speaker Aguila Saleh in Tobruk, and seen as a rival to Mr Dbeibah‘s Tripoli-based government.

Fears of losing candidates rejecting a presidential win and the subsequent violence that may ensue also contributed to the creation of an unsafe environment for the vote to be held.

Political uncertainty in the run-up to the elections has “negatively impacted the overall security situation”, resulting in shifting alliances among armed groups affiliated with the different candidates, UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the UN Security Council on Monday.