On Sunday, the Head of the High National Election Commission (HNEC), Emad El-Sayeh, said the commission does not have any technical problem in holding the elections on time.
“In the event that the elections are postponed, Parliament is the one who announces, not the commission,” Al-Sayeh told Turkey’s Anadolu news agency.
“It is not within the competence of the HNEC to announce the postponement, and whoever issued the execution order is the one who issues the suspension order and the Parliament is the one who decides the polling day,” he added.
Observers believe that the commission, as well as the Parliament, refuse to be the party that announced the postponement of the elections; because the Libyan people will attack the side who will announce the “bad news” for them.
On Friday, the Spokesman for the Libyan Parliament, Abdullah Blaiheg, said that it is impossible to hold the presidential elections on their scheduled date on December 24th. However, he confirmed that the House of Representatives (HoR) will soon discuss a report on the difficulties and obstacles that the HNEC faced and that led to this situation.
Blaiheg said, in a press statement, that postponing the elections “has become a new reality and not an option.”
“According to the new reality, there will be no elections on December 24th, but we are waiting to review the commission’s report to determine the current status of the elections,” he noted.
Although eight days remain until the date set for the elections, the electoral map is still unclear. So far, the HNEC has not announced the final lists of candidates for either the presidential or parliamentary elections.
“It is not possible to hold elections within eight days… How will the final lists of candidates for the presidential elections be announced, and when will the door open for election campaigns,” he said.
He explained that the parliamentary committee concerned with communicating with the HNEC received a report from the commission regarding the obstacles and difficulties it faced. He added that the report will be submitted to the HoR to discuss and find out the obstacles that led to “the difficulty of holding the elections on December 24th.”
The Parliament Spokesman called on the HNEC to “inform the Libyan people clearly and frankly about the obstacles and difficulties they faced, and provide possible solutions according to the new situation and set a new date for the elections.”