Libya - Haftar Loyalist Replaces Controversial HoR Speaker

Haftar family consolidate power in Libya by replacing the Speaker in the House of Representatives

What happened: Haftar ally Alsalahin Abdelnabi has replaced Aguila Saleh as speaker of the House of Representatives after 12 years in the post.

Why it matters: The move consolidates the Haftar family’s power in eastern Libya, strengthening them further on the national stage as the UN and the US pursue parallel tracks to break the wider political stalemate.

What happens next: The Haftars will find Abdelnabi more pliable; the HoR will likely experience internal turmoil in the short term, challenging the UN’s newly agreed elections framework.

This development is significant because Abdelnabi is a much closer ally to Khalifa Haftar than his predecessor, further consolidating the Haftar family's control in eastern Libya and strengthening their position nationally. Furthermore, the Haftars are expected to find the more conventional Abdelnabi significantly easier to pressure than the mercurial Saleh. Finally, this transition occurs at a crucial juncture for both the UN-facilitated electoral framework and ongoing international power-sharing negotiations between the Haftar family and Government of National Unity Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dabaiba.