Member of the Libyan Parliament (HoR) Abdel Moneim al-Orifi said Tuesday that a meeting was held in the historic Parliament headquarters in al-Bayda in Cyrenaica with a delegation from the Tripoli-based High Council of State (HCS).
Al-Orfi explained in press statements that this is the first meeting of its kind held in Cyrenaica between the Parliament members and the HCS members. HCS delegation is headed by the Second Deputy Omar Abushah.
The Parliament member indicated that the meeting discussed the demand of 30 MPs from Cyrenaica to return to the unamended 1951 Constitution, which constitute federal system.
Al-Orifi added that the two sides will discuss the file of national reconciliation throughout the country and the need for the displaced to return to their cities.
MP Jibril Waheida had previously confirmed that more than 20 HCS members and Parliament had arrived in the city of Al-Bayda.
Waheida explained that the meeting is informal and will discuss the latest developments and demands to return to the 1951 constitution .
It is noteworthy that 30 members of the Libyan Parliament demanded the Speaker, Aqila Saleh, to present the unamended 1951 constitution to the Parliament for deliberation regarding a return to the federal system in Libya.
According to the text of the request signed by 30 deputies from Cyrenaica region, they demanded “to amend the unamended 1951 constitution, with the need to deliberate the matter in a private session broadcasted live to consider a return to the federal system in accordance with the three historical regions, Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, and Fezzan.”
The deputies said: “In this context, we ask our brothers and partners from the regions of Tripolitania and Fezzan to support this request, which we see as the real guarantor of the unity, security and safety of Libya at a time when all these matters are under threat.”
Libya issued its first constitution in 1951 under the rule of Idris Senussi I, the king of the United Kingdom of Libya. The constitution was amended in 1964, where the federal system was cancelled and it became Kingdom of Libya. Later in 1969, Muammer Gaddafi led a military coup against the kingdom and ruled the country for 42 years, until he was killed in 2011 uprising.