By George Grant.

The Congress speaker was accused of pre-empting the Constitution with his remarks that Libya could adopt a Parliamentary system of government. (Photo: George Grant)
The Congress speaker was accused of pre-empting the Constitution with his remarks that Libya could adopt a Parliamentary system of government. (Photo: George Grant)

Tripoli, 18 August:

Mohammed Magarief has been forced to retract a comment made during a recent television interview in which he said that Libya would adopt a Parliamentary system of government, in which the powers of the prime minister would be "absolute".

“The governing system in Libya will be parliamentary and executive powers of the prime minister will be absolute, while the powers of the president will be honourary and sovereign", Magarief said during an interview on the Al-Jazeera programme, 'Without Borders'.

The remark has caused a small political furore given that decisions over the political model to be adopted by Libya are explicitly the responsibility of the 60-person Constituent Assembly, which has yet to be appointed.

In an official statement issued yesterday, Magarief retracted the comments, although he stopped short of giving a formal apology.

“Such statements can only be issued after the constitution has been finalised and a referendum has been conducted by Libyan people", he said.
"The final ruling in such cases will emanate from the will of the people which will expressed through a general referendum and where every citizen would have the chance to cast his or her opinion approving or rejecting the constitution.”

In an effort to distance itself from the controversy, Congress spokesman Mohammed Abdullah Addarrat, himself from Magarief’s National Front party, insisted that the speaker’s remarks were made in a personal capacity and did not reflect the views of the Congress as a whole.

The spokesman added, however, that public discussion of such issues enriched the overall debate about Libya’s political future and should not be prohibited.