The UN Envoy to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily urged the Head of the High Council of State (HCS) Khaled Al-Mishri to lead the HCS in nominating representatives for the 6+6 technical committee.
The committee was formed to prepare the election draft laws, according to the 13th constitutional amendment approved by Parliament in February.
He urged the HCS and the Libyan Parliament to “fulfil their commitment to the Libyan people to deliver elections within a clear timeframe.”
Bathily affirmed the United Nations Support Mission in Libya’s (UNSMIL) “readiness to provide technical and logistical support for the two chambers to hold the elections.”
Last week, the Parliament voted to choose its representatives. These were Jalal Al-Shuwaidi and Ezzedine Al-Mnifi for the Cyrenaica region, and Miloud Al-Aswad and Ezzedine Qwereb for the Tripoli region, and Saleh Qelma and Bouslah Shalabi for the Fezzan region.
The 13th amendment stipulated that a committee of 12 members be formed, with six from the Parliament and six from the HCS. This is to agree by a two-thirds majority of each chamber, to prepare the referendum and election laws.
In the event of disagreement on points of contention, the 6+6 will set up a mechanism to take a final and binding decision. The committee’s outputs will be referred to the Parliament for approval, which will issue laws without modification.
“I believe that the Parliament 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.
On Friday, Bathily indicated that “alternative plans may be considered if Libya’s legislative bodies fail to agree on electoral laws in a timely manner.” He indicated that he “would not accept moves to derail a march to elections.”
In an interview with Reuters, he added that the legislative bodies “would be held accountable by the Libyan people, the international community, and regional leaders if they failed to do so.
