Libya’s New Unity Government

The seventy-four members of the UN-led Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) on February 5 elected a three-member Presidency Council headed by Mohamed al-Mnefi and a Prime Minister, Abdelhamid Dabeiba. Their task is to form a Government of National Unity, that will in turn prepare Libya for general elections in December 2021. The three members of the Presidency Council personify this political class, having held various public offices since 2011. But they are also unlikely winners as they have no meaningful power base of their own and played no role in the recent conflict. The fact that the winning team lacks a strong base and political affiliation could allow them to accommodate a broader range of factions, including some of the losers of the process. But this does not mean that the new executive can transcend Libya’s divisions.