The former Italian Interior Minister, Marco Minniti, warned that Libya may risk division after the postponement of the national elections that were scheduled to take place in December 2021.
In the Italian newspaper La Repubblica on Friday, the former minister wrote that “there is a risk of new rifts in Libya, as Prime Minister Abdelhamid Al-Dbaiba does not intend to leave the scene.”
“I am afraid that a new government will be announced in Libya without it obtaining the power of a popular mandate, and therefore it will be weak and vulnerable to internal and external influences,” he said.
“If there are two governments like before, the situation will eventually slip into the worst possible situation, or even divide Libya into spheres of influence,” he explained.
The leader of the Democratic Party pointed out that “Tripoli is under Turkish-Qatari influence and Cyrenaica is under Russian-Egyptian-Emirati influence,” so “it is the spectre of division that hangs over the situation.”
Minniti called for “a real, strong and unequivocal initiative by Europe.” He highlighted the necessity for Europe to take on a direct leadership role that bears responsibility for political and diplomatic initiatives aimed at ensuring stability and security in the Mediterranean.
Earlier, the committee formed by the Libyan House of Representatives (HoR) to follow up the electoral process, concluded that it is “impossible” to hold parliamentary and presidential elections in the country, on their scheduled date of December 24th.
Libya’s High National Election Commission (HNEC) proposed postponing the first round of the national elections to the January 24th, a month from their scheduled date. In a press statement the HNEC said that it is proposing to postpone the polling day (the first round) to January 24th, 2022, in coordination with the HoR.