Controversial Constitutional
Amendments 10 And 11
CD Amendment 10 (التعديل الدستوري رقم 10):
Finally, the hidden objective of the UN bombing campaign began to loom over the horizon: dividing Libya into three countries. The constitutional amendment number 10 amends clause 12 of Article 30 of the NTC-imposed Constitutional Declaration (CD).
This amendment was reported to have been approved by the HoR on the 26th of November 2018, allegedly, by 123 MP's. This amendment divides Libya into three voting districts: the old colonial Tripolitania, Cyrenaica and Fezzan. This they said is required by the referendum law whose article 6 contradicts the NTC-imposed CD.
The amendment also states that if two-thirds of Libyans vote with yes then the permanent constitution will be adopted so long as the percentage of yes votes is more than 50% (that is a minimum of 50% + 1 is required).
The second article of the amendment states that the constitution project will be rejected if it does not meet all the above conditions; while the third article makes this latest saga effective from the date of publication: 26/11/2018.
Violations:
- The draft constitution was announced on the 29th of July 2017. Most Libyans rejected the draft outright for its blatant violations of basic human rights; and yet the authorities kept silent ever since (16 months). Now it is almost certain these violations will remain so for [some] people to vote on.
- Many Berberists have protested about both the procedure and the draft itself for years but, as usual, no one is interested in dispensing justice for the marginalised natives of Libya.
- This means that the two-third majority stipulated by the HoR will be mainly Arab majority because the native Berbers have already boycotted this mysterious process, as reported by https://www.temehu.com/constitutions.htm
- The number of Libyans was a mere 4 million when the February Operation began. Now it is reported that millions of foreigners were given fake Libyan ID's by the authorities in Tripoli for the sole purpose of voting (as reported elsewhere). This means that it is doubtful if any voting operation in Libya can be considered transparent from now on; and in fact none were in the past either, as reported by https://www.temehu.com/gnc (under the 7/7 Elections tab).
- The HoR session to vote over and pass these latest amendments was not televised as usual and therefore critics say there was no evidence that the alleged numbers announced by the HoR are correct. According to Nadia Omran (CDA member herself) it has not been determined yet how many members had attended the session and therefore one is unable to conclude the legitimacy of the session [1].
- Some critics questioned the legitimacy of the session by saying it is unusual that many members of the HoR have met over this amendment despite the lack of such attendance during the previous years [1].
- Some critics have already reported that 120 members of the HoR are loyal to Tripoli's Brotherhood and that the HoR and the HCS (and thus the PC) are working together to ensure the Brotherhood takeover of Libya [2].
- According to the HoR MP Hamoudda Sayala, the amendment to immunise Article 6 of the referendum law violates the elementary standards of the equality of citizens. According to Libya Observer, Mr. Sayala said: "There is no such thing as constitutional immunity of a law, either the article is part of a law or a constitutional article, which both must be approved by specific voting mechanisms" [3].
CD Amendment 11 (التعديل الدستوري رقم 11):
The second amendment (also passed on the same day) approves the amendment to the UN-imposed LPA as agreed (without saying what this agreement was) and includes this amendment in the Constitutional Declaration (CD); while the second article states that this amendment is effective from the 26th of November 2018.
Violations:
- The HoR had previously refused to approve the UN-imposed PC and its head the UN-imposed Fayez Serraj, even though the HoR was happy to negotiate with both the PC and the HCS ever since.
- Despite the illegal formation of the PC's HCS (in violation of the CD) the HoR now violates its own house rules by sharing it legislative power with an illegal body.
- Critics also say that the latest amendment does not cover a fraction of the UN-imposed LPA as was required ever since December 2015 (when it was first imposed by the UN). According to HoR member Mesbah Douma the HoR did not fortify the entire LPA in the constitutional Declaration [4]:
قال عضو مجلس النواب عن سبها، مصباح دومة، إن المجلس لم يعتمد الاتفاق السياسي كاملا في الإعلان الدستوري
- In short it is evident that the authorities (together with their international friends) continue to impose further violations to extend the agony initially imposed on Libyans by the UN.
To download the Constitutional Amendments 10 and 11 please visit: https://www.temehu.com/constitutions.htm
References:
[1] https://www.218tv.net/جدل-وشكوك-حول-مخرجات-جلسة-النواب-الأخي/[2] https://al-ain.com/article/libya-skhirat-agreement-brotherhood-terrorist
[3] https://www.libyaobserver.ly/inbrief/mp-sayala-recent-amendments-constitutional-declaration-run-against-basic-norm-citizenship
[4] alwasat.ly/news/libya/227995
