Libyan court rules against administrative judiciary verdicts on constitution drafting

TRIPOLI, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- Libya's Supreme Court on Wednesday ruled that the administrative judiciary is not competent to consider cases against the constitution assembly.

"The Supreme Court issued its final verdict on the decision of the appeal court to suspend the draft constitution, which ruled that the administrative judiciary is not competent to consider cases related to the constitution assembly," assembly spokesman Siddiq Al-Dresi told Xinhua.

"Under this judicial ruling from the highest court in Libya, the draft constitution procedures are valid. The parliament should prepare the referendum law to present the draft constitution to the people," Al-Dresi added.

In August 2017, the appeals court ruled that the draft constitution should be suspended on grounds that the assembly held the voting session on a holiday.

Al-Dresi demanded to hold a meeting of those rejecting the draft constitution, and to work to bring the views together, "because the constitution is a social contract that must have consensus between all the spectrum and representatives of cities."

The constitution drafting assembly last July voted for a draft constitution and presented it to the parliament. However, the Parliament refused to issue a referendum law at that time until a court ruling is issued regarding the validity of the drafting procedures.

UN Envoy to Libya, Ghassan Salame, also stressed the international community's expectation of the Supreme Court's ruling to make a unified international position on the future constitution. Enditem