Fathi Al-Marimi, the media advisor to the Speaker of the Libyan Parliament, Ageela Saleh, confirmed that the country’s Presidential elections are set to be held within 6-8 months.
In press statements on Tuesday, Al-Marimi said the Roadmap Committee, in addition to a majority of MP’s, have called for a new interim Prime Minister.
The committee was set up to chart a political path, after elections planned for December collapsed. It claimed that any new vote would take at least nine months to prepare. It also proposed the selection of a new Prime Minister to the Parliament.
“There will be a government, and the House Speaker presented the issue of the new government before MP’s. There is a Libyan will that will impose itself through the Parliament, and other official bodies in Libya,” Al-Marimi said.
Notably, Saleh stated that the Government of National Unity’s (GNU) mandate has expired, and it cannot continue in office.
During a Parliamentary session on Monday, Saleh said: “We need food, medicine, and healthcare, and this is the task of the executive authority. The issue of the government is that its term has expired, and we are here today debating whether to continue or change it.”
The Speaker pointed out that GNU spent 86 billion dinars, while people “did not feel that projects even amounted to 10 billion.”
The UN-backed peace plan called for both Parliamentary and Presidential elections on 24 December. Preparations for the vote fell apart over disagreements about fundamental rules, including the eligibility of some of the main candidates, including the current PM, Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba who had pledged not to run for elections.
Libya has enjoyed little peace since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising against Muammar Gaddafi.
On Sunday, UN Adviser, Stephanie Williams, who has held talks with all the major players in Libya over recent weeks, tweeted that the focus should be on new elections, not a new government.