Libya's eastern-based parliament published a series of criteria for candidates to govern the country on Tuesday, in a bid to replace interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.
Dbeibah is a rival of Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh, and the move comes a month after United Nations-sponsored presidential elections in Libya were delayed.
Saleh's chamber, also known as the House of Representatives, is based in the eastern city of Tobruk while Dbeibah's administration is western-based in Tripoli, reflecting the country's deep divisions.
In a session with 120 lawmakers present, the parliament "approved the conditions to be met by candidates to head the next government," spokesperson Abdullah Belhaiq said.
The assembly published a list of 13 criteria for hopefuls, including a commitment not to stand in future elections, having only Libyan nationality and receiving the backing of at least 25 deputies.
The Dec. 24 election was postponed following months of wrangling over its legal basis and who could stand.
Dbeibah's rivals then claimed that his government's mandate is over – although some deputies have said his administration should stay in place until new elections.
The U.N. has also called for a new date for the presidential ballot, rather than a government reshuffle.
Dbeibah, a tycoon, took office early last year as part of a process intended to help bring an end to the complex conflict that has ravaged Libya since the overthrow of Gadhafi.
He has repeatedly said he will only hand power to an elected government.
Saleh last week urged the committee responsible for overseeing elections to decide by the end of January on a "definitive" date for the delayed presidential and legislative polls.
That came a day after he called for a new interim government to be established in Tripoli, saying the current executive had outlived its mandate.
The elections were derailed by bitter arguments over divisive candidates – Dbeibah one of them – and a disputed legal framework.
The mandate of the interim government was theoretically meant to end on Dec. 24, but the United Kingdom's Embassy in Tripoli has said in a tweet that London "continues to recognize the #Government_of_National_Unity as the authority tasked with leading #Libya to #elections and does not endorse the establishment of parallel governments or institutions."
A separate joint statement by the U.K., France, Germany, Italy and the United States on Dec. 24 insisted that "transfer of power from the current interim executive authority to the new executive authority shall take place following the announcement of the results" of polls when they happen.
