Libyan Parliament Elects 6+6 Committee Representatives

On Monday, the Libyan House of Representatives (HoR) voted to choose its representatives in the 6+6 Joint Committee, which will also include representatives from the High Council of State (HCS). The committee was formed to prepare election draft laws, according to the 13th constitutional amendment approved by Parliament last February.

The Parliament voted to choose the candidates Jalal Al-Shuwaidi and Ezzedine Al-Mnifi for the Cyrenaica region, and the candidates Miloud Al-Aswad and Ezzedine Qwereb for the Tripoli region, and the candidates Saleh Qelma and Bouslah Shalabi for the Fezzan region.

The 13th amendment approved by the HoR stipulated that a committee of 12 members be formed, with six members from the HoR and six from the HCS, to agree by a two-thirds majority of the members of each chamber to prepare the referendum and election laws.

In the event of disagreement on points of contention, the 6+6 Joint Committee sets up a mechanism to take a final and binding decision. The committee’s outputs will be referred to the HoR to approve and issue laws as approved by them without modification.

Notably, the Special Representative of the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, said if electoral laws are put in place in June, elections could be held at the end of this year.

“I believe that the HoR and the HCS will not take more than several months to draft the electoral laws, and it is important to create a proper security environment for holding the overdue electoral entitlement,” Bathily said during a press conference in Tripoli.

The UN Envoy added that if the 6+6 committee worked within a reasonable time frame and came out with a constitutional and legal basis for the elections. This basis would restore the Libyan people’s confidence in the two institutions.

He stressed the importance of creating the necessary security environment for the elections, urging for peaceful dialogue between the country’s security authorities to pave the way for elections.