Libya’s eastern House of Representatives amended its rules to limit the speaker and deputies to a single 12-month term and elected Al-Saleheen Abdul Nabi Al-Abidi to replace Aguila Saleh, who had held the post since 2014; Saleh contested the legality of the move, while critics accused him of unilateral decisions, and the change favours the military establishment of Khalifa Haftar.

Elevating another Obeidat tribesman preserves tribal equilibrium in Cyrenaica and weakens the speakership’s independence; Al-Abidi’s prior Turkish parliamentary contacts may help manage external relations, yet the timing coincides with renewed disagreement over a UN election roadmap, potentially strengthening the eastern negotiating bloc at the expense of national consensus.

Control of oil revenues—accounting for the bulk of GDP, exports and government income—makes parliamentary malleability valuable to the Haftar clan’s reconstruction fund and spending priorities; the article warns that a speaker dependent on military approval would reduce oversight, consolidate the eastern power structure and further diminish prospects for reunification.

A few days ago, Libya’s eastern-based House of Representatives dismantled a leadership arrangement that had lasted for more than 12 years. Lawmakers approved amendments limiting the speaker and deputy speakers to a single 12-month term. The following day, legislators elected Al-Saleheen Abdul Nabi Al-Abidi, to replace Aguila Saleh, who had led the chamber since August 2014.

Saleh challenged the proceedings as legally invalid. His opponents, however, accused him of making decisions without consulting lawmakers in addition to allegations, made weeks earlier, of his obstructing access to parliament’s headquarters. The leadership change, therefore, emerged from what appears to have been parliamentary discontent, even as its consequences clearly favor the military establishment dominating eastern Libya.

With this change, the relationship between institutional rules and coercive power has shifted dramatically. A 12-month term can promote accountability when legislators freely choose their leadership and can reject candidates without intimidation. Under the influence of Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan Arab Armed Forces, the same arrangement can create permanent insecurity for the speaker who must........

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