On Thursday, the Chairman of Libya’s High National Elections Commission (HNEC), Emad Al-Sayeh stressed that they needed “an observer for each polling center, i.e. six thousand observers. He added that 4,000 additional observers are needed to monitor the forthcoming elections.”
He indicated that there were currently 2,000 observers, i.e. only one-third of the required number of observers for elections, “and we need to double it at least.”
“Most candidates cannot provide a sufficient number of agents within their constituencies,” Al-Sayeh said in a speech at the symposium of the Ministerial Committee for Support and Implementation of Elections. This was under the title “Election Monitoring Experiences and Lessons Learned.”
He called on the government to provide financial and logistical support to civil society organisations concerned with monitoring the elections.
On Monday, the Speaker of the Libyan Parliament, Ageela Saleh said that he “sees an amendment to the Constitutional Declaration as a constitutional basis, upon which the Presidential and Parliamentary elections will be held.”
“We hope that they will support this amendment, to achieve the interest of the country and take into account all the political and economic conditions of society,” Saleh added during a parliament session in Benghazi.
He called on MPs to “work on the speedy preparation of the constitutional basis,” pointing to “conspiracies against the Parliament, which will not abandon the country’s unity, and rejects foreign interference.”
Notably, the Interior Ministry of the Libyan Parliament-designated government denounced the UN’s “dealings with the rival Government of National Unity (GNU) led by Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba, and its coordination with it regarding holding the elections.”
The Interior Ministry of Fathi Bashagha’s government said that the GNU’s “influence does not exceed the capital, Tripoli.”
This comes in response to the meeting of the UN Envoy to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily with the acting Minister of Interior of the GNU, Emad Trabelsi. He affirmed the ministry’s readiness to “secure and protect the elections.”
The Interior Ministry said in a statement that “the promotion and publishing of the meeting with the rival government lack credibility, and contradicts the Libyan reality.” It called on the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) to “respect the Security Council’s decision, and its tasks in charge of mediation between all Libyan parties.”
Libya has been in chaos since a NATO-backed uprising toppled longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. The county has for years been split between rival administrations, each backed by rogue militias and foreign governments.
On 10 February 2022, the Libyan Parliament announced the unanimous appointment of Fathi Bashagha as the new Prime Minister. But Dbaiba warned that the appointment of a new interim government could lead to war and chaos in the country. He renewed his pledge to only hand power over to an elected government.