TRIPOLI: Libya’s largest coalition in the national assembly said it was boycotting sessions, protesting at delays in drafting a constitution, it said yesterday.
The National Forces Alliance (NFA), formed last year by liberal war-time leader Mahmoud Jibril, has 36 out of around 80 party seats in the General National Congress (GNC). The rest of the nearly 200 seats are held by independents.
In a news conference, its members said the GNC, the legislature voted in last July, was too slow in drafting a law for electing a constitutional committee.
The constitution is to be drawn up by 60 members elected by Libyans, but the vote is still only a distant promise because of political squabbling and administrative delays.
“We have decided to suspend our participation within the GNC except for sessions relating to the law on the election of the constitutional committee,” NFA spokesman Tawfiq Shahibi said, adding the GNC had “wasted time” discussing secondary issues.
“The GNC has been sidetracked from its major goals.”
Reuters
