Libya’s newly elected PM cast out by legislature

Libya's parliament on Sunday ousted the country's newly elected prime minister in a no-confidence vote, the latest blow to hopes that the country's factions could agree on a government charged with restoring stability after last year's civil war.

Mustafa Abushagur was Libya's first elected prime minister after last year's overthrow of dictator Moammar Gadhafi. He represented an offshoot of the country's oldest anti-Gadhafi opposition movement, and was considered a compromise candidate acceptable to both liberals and Islamists.

But his proposed Cabinet was struck down by a legislature representing dozens of divided tribes, towns, and regions across the country, many of whom feel they are owed the spoils of victory over Col. Gadhafi.

He had 25 days from his Sep. 12 appointment by parliament to form a Cabinet and win the legislature's approval, but that deadline expired on Sunday. The General National Congress voted 125 to 44 in favor of removing him as prime minister, with 17 abstaining from voting. He had just put forth 10 names for key ministerial posts Sunday when the no-confidence vote was held.

Until a replacement can be elected by the parliament, management of Libya's government is in the hands of the legislature.

The Congress will have to vote on a new prime minister in the coming weeks. The incoming leader will be responsible for rebuilding Libya's army and police force and removing major pockets of support for the former regime.

On Sunday, around 1,000 people protested in the capital Tripoli outside the congressional headquarters to demand that militias operating alongside the army end a partial siege of the town of Bani Walid, considered a major stronghold of former regime loyalists. They protested for a peaceful solution to the standoff that has already sent families fleeing from the town in anticipation of a strike following the death of a former rebel after his abduction and ill treatment by Bani Walid captors last month.

Perhaps the single greatest challenge facing any new Libyan leader is the proliferation of ex-rebel militias. One radical Islamist militia has been linked to the attack last month on the U.S. Consulate in the eastern city of Benghazi that killed the American ambassador and three others.

There has been a widespread popular backlash against militias since that attack, and the Libyan government has taken advantage to try to put some of them under the authority of military officers. But some militias have resisted any attempt to fully control them or disarm them.

Any prime minister who wants to impose his authority on the militias will need broad national support for his government but such support is hard to get.

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Libya’s newly elected PM cast out by legislature