Libya Cabinet Wins Confidence Vote in Parliament

The proposed cabinet of Libyan premier Ahmed Miitig on Sunday won a vote of confidence in the General National Congress, or interim parliament, a lawmaker said.

"The vote of confidence was obtained by 83 votes out of 94 lawmakers present," MP Mohammed Laamari told Agence France Presse.

Miitig's cabinet is due to replace that of Abdullah al-Thani, who resigned last month amid mounting lawlessness, and as a rogue general gains support for an assault against Islamist militias in the east of the country.

The GNC elected Islamist-backed businessman Miitig, 42, prime minister in a chaotic vote in early May. The session came just days after gunmen stormed the GNC to interrupt an earlier ballot. 

He is Libya's fifth and youngest prime minister since longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi was toppled and killed in a 2011 uprising.

Since Gadhafi's fall, successive governments in the oil-rich North African nation have struggled to impose order as heavily armed former rebel brigades have carved out their own fiefdoms and refused to join the security forces.

In mid-May, former general Khalifa Haftar launched an offensive against Islamist militias in the eastern city of Benghazi, cradle of the 2011 uprising and a hotbed of attacks against troops and police.

Army units and officers have joined Haftar's forces, and on Friday thousands of demonstrators rallied in support of his assault.