Who’s for Prime Minister?

Another uniquely and characteristically Libyan controversy is emerging: opposing factions are disputing who is Libya's legitimate Prime Minister. Those who don't want Ahmed Matig to be prime minister allege that the voting session in the GNC had closed before he got the requisite 121 votes, while those supporting him say that although the deputy head of the GNC (Awami) tried to close the session what matters is that Nuri Abusahmain the speaker of the GNC and President of Libya gave his approval for the voting to continue even though he was not present.  There are many articles out there on what has or has not transpired and many of them lack credibility.  Therefore, I'm presenting one from the Economist which I believe to be carefully researched.

On May 4th Ahmed Omar Matiq (pictured), a 42-year-old Islamist-leaning hotelier, was announced as the new prime minister by the second deputy speaker, who said the candidate had won 121 votes in the 200-member congress, one more than required. But the first deputy speaker disagreed. He said that the only legal vote was the one he had himself supervised earlier in the day, when Mr Matiq had gained just 113 votes, too few to clinch him the top job.For the rest of the day confusion prevailed. The congress declared Mr Matiq to be the new prime minister. But the prime minister’s office contradicted it, saying that Abdullah al-Thinni, who had been appointed to the job only in mid-March, was still in the post. “Libya has Two Prime Ministers” was the headline in that evening’s English-language Libya Herald.The next day the congressional speaker, Nuri Abu Sahmain, who had been absent during the previous proceedings, emerged to announce that Mr Matiq was indeed the new head of government, apparently under terms granted to the speaker enabling him to make decisions by decree. Mr Abu Sahmain had been absent since prosecutors announced last month that he was being investigated for possible sexual impropriety with two women, a touchy issue in Muslim Libya. But after he had declared Mr Matiq the prime minister, opposition members of the congress challenged the legality of the process. Mr Abu Sahmain then announced that Mr Thinni would anyway stay in place for another two weeks, since the British-educated Mr Matiq would need time to prepare for a congressional vote of confidence before his government could get going.