On 18 July, Fathi al-Majbary announced from Benghazi that he would no longer be a member of the Government of National Accord’s (GNA) Presidential Council (PC), calling the GNA a ‘farce’ and arguing that no central government could be run from Tripoli due to the influence the militias there. Majbary made his announcement alongside Ali al-Gutrani, a boycotting member of the PC from the East, and a group of House of Representative (HoR) members from the East.
On 23 July, in a written and televised statement, both Majbary and Gatrani announced the withdrawal of their constituent region from the Libyan Political Agreement (LPA) declaring that the “province of Barqa (Cyrenaica) is now outside the (Libyan) Political Agreement.” The two called upon other HoR eastern representatives, tribal leaders, and civic institutions to attend an emergency regional meeting in Benghazi on 26 July to discuss the LPA and rights of those in the Barqa region.