A member of the military guards a protest against candidates for a national unity government proposed by U.N. envoy for Libya Bernardino Leon, in Benghazi, Libya.

A majority of lawmakers in Libya’s internationally recognized parliament on Monday rejected a U.N. peace deal and a proposal for a national unity government, one of them said.

MP Ali Tekbali said the decision was taken during a session of the parliament but that no vote took place.

“A majority of lawmakers decided to reject the (U.N.) proposals,” Tekbali told AFP.

“No voting took place,” he said “since the majority of the members have rejected the U.N. suggestions”.

The official Lana news agency also reported that a “majority of lawmakers have announced their rejection of the proposals made by U.N. envoy Bernardino Leon”.

Libya has had two administrations since August 2014, when a militia alliance that includes Islamists overran the capital, forcing the internationally recognized government to take refuge in Tobruk in the east.

U.N. envoy Leon announced on October 9 proposals for a unity government after months of negotiations.

The Islamist-backed assembly based in Tripoli which is not recognized by the international government has also balked at the appointments.

The U.N. Security Council has threatened to impose sanctions on those who block a peace deal in Libya, which descended into chaos after the fall of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.

The new U.N.-backed government would be headed by Fayez el-Sarraj, a deputy in the Tripoli parliament, and include three deputy prime ministers, one each from the west, east and south of the country.

A unity government in Libya is seen as the best chance to tackle migrant-smuggling from Libyan territory across the Mediterranean and the rise of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) group.

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