Libya’s parliament approved a new government on Tuesday but the incumbent prime minister rejected the vote and vowed not to cede power, raising the risk of fighting among armed factions or territorial partition between rival administrations.
The parliament speaker’s declaration of Fathi Bashagha as prime minister after a televised vote aggravates a power struggle with the administration of Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, who was installed through a U.N.-backed process last year.
Opposing armed groups have mobilised in the capital Tripoli over recent weeks and foreign forces including from Turkey and Russia that have backed rival warring factions remain in the country.