The Radisson Blu National hotel in Tripoli where the Libyan Congress held a public hearing yesterday. Photo: Ismail Zitouny/Reuters

Libyan authorities yesterday proposed a June national election as the government sought to resolve a stand-off over Parliament involving powerful brigades of former rebel fighters.

Libya’s General National Congress (GNC) is at the heart of the crisis after gunmen claiming loyalty to a renegade former general attacked Parliament with anti-aircraft cannons on Sunday and demanded its suspension.

Parliament, split between Islamist and anti-Islamist forces, had said in February it would hold early elections, under pressure over Libya’s chaotic transition to democracy since the 2011 uprising that ousted Muammar Gaddafi.

Libya’s Parliament yesterday moved to a luxury hotel in Tripoli until a powerful militia from the western city of Misurata can take up positions to protect its old building, a parliamentary spokesman said.

Gunmen shelled the General National Congress on Sunday in an attack claimed by forces loyal to renegade general Khalifa Haftar, who said it was part of a campaign to purge the North African country of Islamists.

Haftar’s troops on Friday attacked Islamist militants in Benghazi in the worst clashes in the eastern city for months, killing more than 70 people. Western powers fear Haftar’s campaign will split the Libyan army, further destabilising the country, after several units defected to him in recent days.

The June 25 election proposal appeared to be an attempt to ease tensions after Sunday’s attack and to avoid the potential response by rival Islamist militia brigades.

The involvement of a militia from Misurata might create new tensions

“The commission has not yet officially announced June 25 as the date of the elections of the House of Representatives. But it is only one of the proposals to hold the elections,” election commission member Abdulhakeem Al-Shaab said.

A local television station had earlier quoted the election commission saying that the June date was set.

Three years after the end of Gaddafi’s one-man rule, Libya remains in constant upheaval, its government fragile, Parliament split and the nascent army unable to control rival bands of former rebels who often challenge the state.

Calm has returned to Tripoli since Sunday but diplomats say the involvement of a militia from Misurata might create new tensions.

The Islamist Muslim Brothers have strong roots in Misurata and are rivals of a militia from Zintan in the western mountains, which controls part of Tripoli and which some officials have blamed for the attack on the Parliament.

The struggle takes place against a background of growing chaos in Libya, where the government is unable to control dozens of militias who helped oust Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but now defy state authority.

Parliamentary spokesman Omar Hmeidan said speaker Nuri Abu Sahmain had asked the force from Misurata to secure Parliament’s premises. “The Congress decided to hold today’s session in a hall of the Radisson Blu hotel until the Central Shield force from Misurata finishes preparations to start securing the headquarters of the Congress,” he said.

Parliament had planned to discuss approving a Cabinet for newly appointed Prime Minister Ahmed Maiteeq, but postponed debate as it lacked a quorum, he said.

The appointment of Maiteeq, who is from Misurata, has angered people in the east since he is supported by the Muslim Brothers. Hmeidan confirmed that a congressman, Masoud Abdul-salam Obaid, and two employees had been kidnapped by the gunmen who attacked the Parliament on Sunday.