Is Libya’s new executive authority anti-woman?

During his first press conference, Prime Minister Debaiba came under fire for a string of sexist remarks and possibly backtracking on promises made during the UN lead peace process to grant women 30% of the ministerial posts in Libya.

Debiba stated that there were no women put forward in the thousands of CVs he’d received for the ministerial positions therefore he may not be able to meet the 30% quota agreed upon prior in the LPDF.

After the comment, the PM backtracked by rehashing outdated remarks such as “women ae our mother, sister, daughter, etc” leading to even further criticism by feminists groups nationally and internationally, calling for an apology and demanding that a woman be recognized not only as someone’s relative or spouse but as an independent equal human being of her own right.

It is worth noting that if the House of Representatives of Libya fails to confirm the new executive authority, the vote of confidence will then go to the members of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF), Debaiba cannot afford to lose favour with the female members of the forum should he hope to get his confirmation.

The trouble with his female base is not Debaiba’s only issue, as the GNU’s logo was practically mocked into being replaced with another one after it was discovered that the initial one was plagiarized.

The GNU was also thrown into doubt this week after AFP reported that a leaked document of the UN’s investigation into bribery within the LPDF election in geneva revealed that Debaiba has obtained some of his winning votes through payments as large as 500,000 US dollars.

UN experts are expected to bring their findings before the Security Council on 15 March.

Debaiba and the Presidential Council continue to insist that they were elected through a transparent and fair process, calling on the UN to release the report to the public so that Libya’s new government can be cleared of any suspicions.