Will Libya resort to electing an interim president?

Libyan parliament speaker Aguila Saleh hinted on Monday the possibility of holding a presidential elections and elect an interim president for the country if the draft law of the constitution referendum is not approved or the proposal to amend the Constitutional Declaration fails.

Saleh’s statement came after the parliament suspended a session scheduled for Monday to vote on the draft law of the constitution referendum after it failed to reach a quorum and postponed the session until next week. This is the third time the voting session is postponed for this reason.

Saleh asked all MPs to attend the next session to vote and said that the failure of this proposal means that the parliament must activate Law No. (5) to elect an interim president for the country by holding a direct popular vote.

According to Law No. (5) which was issued in 2014, an interim president is elected via direct popular vote and the candidate who wins the majority of votes wins.