Abdul Hamid Mohammed Dbeibah, the prime minister of Libya's Tripoli-based unity government, rejected a deal with the east Libya-based parliament on changing the heads of the country's sovereign positions.
On Friday, Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh and Khalid al-Mishri, head of the Tripoli-based High Council of State, which acts as a senate, agreed during their talks in Morocco to change the heads of the sovereign positions before January.
"Libyans are asking everyone to fulfill their obligations towards elections. Talking about parallel tracks such as sharing sovereign positions is no longer acceptable," Dbeibah said on Twitter.
He called on both Saleh and al-Mishri "to accelerate the adoption of a fair constitutional rule that ends the legal problem that hinders the holding of elections."
Oil-rich Libya has remained in turmoil since 2011 when longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi was ousted after four decades in power.
The situation has worsened since March when East Libya-based Parliament appointed a new government led by former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha, but Dbeibah insists he will cede authority only to a government that comes through an "elected parliament," raising fears that Libya could slip back into a civil war.
There have been two governments in Libya: The national unity government led by Dbeibah and the one granted confidence in early March by the Tobruk-based House of Representatives.
Dbeibah has previously said that he would only cede authority to a government that comes through an "elected parliament," raising fears that the oil-rich country could slip back into civil war.
Parliament declared that Dbeibah's term expired when the December election did not take place as planned, and the chamber has instead chosen Bashagha to lead a new transition with elections to follow next year.
Parliament's position is backed by the eastern-based putschist Gen. Khalifa Haftar, who waged a 14-month war on Tripoli from 2019 to 2020. Armed factions in the capital and western regions appear divided over the crisis, with some saying on Tuesday they opposed parliament's move to install a new government.
Disputes over basic rules for the election led to the collapse of the planned vote in December.
