Former Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan on Thursday denounced a no-confidence vote by his country's parliament that led to his dismissal as a falsification, Alarabiya reported.
In a statement on news channel France24, Zeidan rejected allegations of corruption directed against him.
"There is a falsification and maneuvering," he told the channel, citing that only 113 members of parliament had voted for his removal. The voters, he said, were fewer than the 120 needed for a no-confidence vote to be valid.
Zeidan was replaced temporarily by the defense minister Abdallah al-Thinni. Parliament head Nuri Ali Abu Sahmain said the assembly will support Thinni and will not obstruct his work.
Deputies scheduled the vote after rebels in eastern Libya said a tanker loaded with oil from a port under their control escaped the navy and moved into international waters.
"The situation in the country has become unacceptable. Even those MPs who used to support the prime minister no longer have any alternative," MP Suad Gannur told Agence France-Presse prior to the vote.
Zeidan's government has been repeatedly criticized for its failure to rein in the myriad of former rebel militias which have carved out their own fiefdoms since the NATO-backed uprising that ended the 42-year dictatorship of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.