TRIPOLI: UN envoy for Libya Abdoulaye Bathily said on Saturday that elections could be conducted by the end of the current year if a clear plan and electoral regulations are introduced by June in the African country.
A political process to resolve conflict in Libya has been hindered since an election scheduled for December 2021 collapsed due to a dispute over the eligibility of key candidates. The UN envoy last month announced a new initiative to break the stalemate by creating a steering committee to enable the polls in the country, which is seen as crucial to any lasting peace.
UN Envoy for Libya
Abdoulaye Bathily told a news conference on Saturday that the two legislative bodies in Libya had agreed to constitute a joint committee of 6 members each to draft electoral laws, saying: “There is no reason for any more delay in the process of elections.”
Libya’s temporary government, put in place in early 2021 via a UN-backed peace process, was only supposed to last until the general elections scheduled for December that year, and its legitimacy is now also becoming controversial. Bathily added that successive interim arrangements, endless transition governments, and legislative bodies are a source of instability. The African country has had little peace since a 2011 NATO-sponsored uprising ousted former ruler Muammar Qaddafi. Since 2014, political control has been divided between rival western and eastern factions, with the last major spell of conflict ending in 2020.
