On 4 January, 50 members of the Tubruq-based House of Representatives (HoR) held an emergency meeting in Benghazi and 38 members voted to annul the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA), cut relations with Turkey, cancel the maritime agreement between Turkey and the Government of National Accord (GNA), and bring GNA Prime Minister Fayez al-Serraj to justice for high treason. The HoR asked the international community to withdraw its recognition of the GNA, and renamed itself the “Libyan Government.” The HoR also called upon Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) forces to disrupt all ports and airports under control of the GNA to prevent the influx of mercenaries and arms to groups in Tripoli.The GNA rebuffed the HoR emergency meeting, claiming the session was illegal, and reaffirmed its MoU with Turkey. The High Council of State (HSC) head Khalid al-Mishri said the HoR decisions are meaningless and are a result of pressures exercised by the “military oligarch who seized power in eastern Libya”. The HoR is seeking to use the current international division and chaos over Libya to undermine the GNA and reinforce its own position. While this decision has no legal standing and does not appear to have much wider support in Libya either at this time, it does highlight the HoR’s current strategy to influence the international landscape. Although nullifying the LPA would also technically undermine the HoR’s current legal standing, the HoR would likely say it is reverting to its mandate from the 2014 elections and use this to try and leverage international support. This development is indicative of the broken and polarised state of Libya’s political institutions.
HoR members annul LPA and rename themselves the “Libyan Government”