Libya’s Eastern Parliament Ousts Longtime Speaker Aguila Saleh After 12 Years

Libya’s eastern-based House of Representatives has voted to replace its longtime speaker, Aguila Saleh, bringing an end to a 12-year tenure that had increasingly drawn criticism from fellow lawmakers. The move, announced by the parliament’s spokesperson on the social media platform X, installs Al-Salhin Abdelnabi al-Obeidi as the new speaker of the 170-member chamber.

The vote took place on Tuesday, one day after 98 members of the House approved a new internal system that restricts the speaker and deputy speakers to a single 12-month term. That procedural change effectively dismantled an arrangement that had been in place since the chamber first elected its leadership in 2014, when Saleh took the helm.

Lawmakers who supported the change cited mounting frustration with how the previous leadership operated. Jebree Oheida, a member of the House, told Reuters that there was “significant discontent among MPs with the previous leadership over numerous errors.” He said legislators had attempted to engage with Saleh’s office to resolve their concerns but found no willingness to address them. Among the grievances, according to Oheida, were decisions taken without consulting the members of parliament.

The session that produced the leadership change was overseen by Second Deputy Speaker Misbah Douma, according to the Libya Observer. The House also elected Tarek al-Ashtar as first deputy speaker and Mesbah Douma as second deputy speaker, filling out the new leadership team.

Saleh, however, has refused to recognize the proceedings. He described the initial vote to limit the speaker’s term as “not official and had no legal effect,” according to the Libya Observer. He also announced that he had cancelled the session he had called for Tuesday, underscoring the contested nature of the transition and the depth of the institutional rupture within the chamber.

The ouster of Saleh carries broader significance for Libya, which remains politically and militarily divided more than a decade after the 2011 overthrow of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. The country is split between the United Nations-recognised Government of National Unity in Tripoli, led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, and a rival administration in the east backed by renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar. The eastern parliament, which sits in the city of Benghazi, is a key pillar of Haftar’s power structure.

Saleh had long been viewed as a staunch ally of the Haftar clan, but analysts suggest his position weakened as Haftar’s sons, particularly Saddam Haftar, moved to consolidate their influence. Emadeddin Badi, an analyst at the London-based Chatham House, described Saleh as “the latest casualty of Saddam Haftar’s drive to centralise decision-making in eastern Libya and bulldoze his way into a political role.” The comment points to a shifting internal power dynamic in the east, where family networks and military authority increasingly overlap.

The new speaker, Al-Obeidi, hails from the same tribe as Saleh and represents the eastern city of Tobruk. He previously chaired the parliament’s Libyan-Turkish friendship committee, a role that gave him exposure to diplomatic engagement. His election, along with the new deputy speakers, is expected to reshape the internal workings of the House at a delicate moment for Libya’s political transition.

The leadership change comes on the heels of a landmark agreement signed in August by representatives of Libya’s rival political camps in Tripoli. That deal, mediated by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), could see presidential and legislative elections held within two years. Known as the “4+4 committee” agreement, it attempts to resolve the recurring legal and institutional disputes that have paralyzed the country since Gaddafi’s fall.

The United States is pursuing a separate reunification plan for the oil and gas-rich North African nation, led by Massad Boulos, President Donald Trump’s senior adviser for Arab and African affairs. That initiative, sometimes referred to as an “oil for unity” framework, adds another layer of external engagement to a crowded diplomatic field that already includes the UN, regional powers and European governments.

For ordinary Libyans, the removal of Saleh may signal either an opening for renewed political momentum or another episode of elite reshuffling with little impact on daily life. The House of Representatives has been a central actor in the country’s prolonged transitional limbo, and its internal leadership battles have often mirrored the wider contest for control between eastern and western factions. Whether Al-Obeidi’s tenure can break with the patterns of the past will depend on the extent to which he can assert the chamber’s independence from military influence and engage constructively with the UN-led process.

The coming weeks will test whether the new leadership can stabilize the House and speak with a coherent voice in negotiations over elections and institutional reform. Saleh’s refusal to accept the transition also raises the possibility of competing claims to authority within the eastern camp, potentially complicating any unified front. For now, the vote marks a decisive, if contested, break with a figure who dominated the eastern parliament for more than a decade.