With no new date set yet for much-awaited Libyan elections, Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh said Tuesday that a definitive date must be set by the end of January.
A presidential election was due to take place on Dec. 24, followed by legislative polls, but the United Nations-led electoral process was delayed in the troubled North African nation amid political tensions.
Tensions heightened between putschist Gen. Khalifa Haftar along with an eastern-based parliament against authorities centering around an interim government in the capital Tripoli in the west, led by Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah.
Libya has been ravaged by violence and insecurity ever since a NATO-backed uprising in the oil-rich nation toppled and killed dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
In April 2019, Haftar and his forces, backed by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, launched an offensive to try and capture Tripoli. His campaign collapsed after Turkey and Qatar stepped up their military support for the Tripoli government.
Mediated by the United Nations, an October 2020 cease-fire led to the formation of a transitional government and scheduled elections for Dec. 24. But the vote faced steep challenges that eventually forced its delay.
Saleh, speaking at a parliamentary session in the eastern port city of Tobruk, said a parliamentary committee overseeing elections must present its "final report" by the end of January.
The report must detail both "the steps necessary to remove the obstacles which hampered the electoral process" in December and "determine a definitive date" for holding the ballot, he said.
Months of disputes finally saw the vote postponed just days before it was to take place as the committee overseeing the election declared it impossible to hold as scheduled.
The missed election deadline came after bitter disputes over the laws governing the electoral process. Outbreaks of fighting among armed factions and the presence of thousands of foreign fighters and troops in the North African country also fueled mistrust between the rival groups.
Controversial figures declaring candidacy further polarized the political scene in recent months. Among them are Haftar, Dbeibah and Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, the slain dictator’s son and one-time heir apparent. Opponents of Haftar and Gadhafi have said they will never accept their election victory.
The country’s election commission did not name a final list of candidates for the presidential and parliamentary elections. Imad al-Sayeh, head the commission, told the parliament Monday that militias threatened to stop the electoral process if a final list was announced.
The commission must also present to parliament "a complete vision of the executive power and the formation of a new government," said Saleh, who is himself a candidate in the presidential election.
His demand for a fixed poll date comes a day after he called for a new interim government to be established in Tripoli, noting that the current executive has outlived its mandate.
Parliament in September passed a vote of no confidence in the interim government.
Saleh has called on the attorney general to "investigate" the government's expenses along with "abuse of power" including nominations to posts.
The call came as U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday urged Libya's political factions and parties to hold safe, "inclusive and credible" presidential and parliamentary elections as soon as possible.
Stephanie Williams, the U.N. special adviser on Libya, said she is pushing for Libya to hold elections by June. Williams told The Associated Press (AP) late Sunday that it is still “very reasonable and possible” for the country’s 2.8 million voters to cast their ballots by June, in line with the U.N.-brokered 2020 road map.
Williams, who led U.N. efforts to end the latest bout of violence in Libya in 2020, said elections are needed in the country to give credence to its institutions.
“All the institutions are suffering a crisis of legitimacy,” she said. “I don’t see any other exit for Libya other than a peaceful political process.
