Against all expectations, the constitutional section of Libya’s supreme court ruled in favor of the appeal against the legality of paragraph 11 in Article 30 in the 7th Amendment to the Constitutional Declaration. The paragraph in question, known as the February Committee proposals clause, constituted the basis of the third transition period in Libya, following which the House of Representatives (HoR) was elected on 25 June. The supreme court based its decision on Article 36: the 7th amendment, passed by 121 votes, did not achieve the required two-thirds of the members of the General National Congress (134 out of 200). Thus, while parties to the conflict were concerned with the legitimacy of the HoR (holding of its sessions in Tobruk instead of Tripoli and the lack of an orderly transfer of powers from the GNC to the elected HoR) the supreme court addressed an earlier appeal that targeted the legal foundation on which the 25 June parliamentary elections were organized. This means that the GNC in Tripoli again embodies constitutional legitimacy, while awaiting the drafting of a constitution by the end of the year, to be submitted to referendum thereafter. The Tobruk-based parliament and Thenni government would find it difficult to question the court’s impartiality, since they praised it when it ruled in favor of Thenni’s appeal against the election of Ahmed Maetig as PM, five months ago. The same argument (Article 36) was used then, and Maetig, together with the GNC, submitted to the court’s ruling. Besides, the Tobruk camp was engaged until the last minute in the legal proceedings that ended with Thursday’s decision that took everyone by surprise. The court’s ruling is final and no appeal is possible. There are not many options for the way forward in Libya: either go for early elections and aim to finish drafting a constitution before the end of the year; or expect a worsening of the conflict.
http://www.constitutionnet.org/ar/vl/item/libya-7th-amendment-constitutional-declaration (Unofficial UN translation)
http://www.constitutionnet.org/files/7th_amendment_to_constitutional_declaration.pdf(Arabic Original document)
http://www.constitutionnet.org/files/interim_constitution-3_aug_2011_arabic_signed.pdf
Constitutional Court’s ruling in favour of Abdallah Thenni’s appeal against Dr. Matetig’s election by GNC as PM, in late April. Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnYhhMCjTJY
Dr. Ahmed Maetig’s acceptance of the Constitutional Court’s ruling against his election PM in early June http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkDbv3L31Ig
