The Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), Abdoulaye Bathily has urged Libyan institutions and key stakeholders to agree on a roadmap to deliver elections as soon as possible, across the country.
In a statement published earlier on Tuesday, UNSMIL said the elections “should be held on a constitutional and legal basis, through dialogue, compromise, and constructive engagement. This call comes in line with the guidance from the Security Council’s resolution 2656 (2022) adopted on 28 October 2022.”
UNSMIL added that it has “engaged all Libyan political and security leaders, relevant institutions and civil society to discuss how to create a pathway to successful, inclusive and credible elections.”
The statement noted that UNSMIL has assigned a team comprised of electoral, constitutional, and gender experts to provide technical assistance to the 6+6 Joint Committee in preparing draft electoral laws.
“The Mission recognizes the efforts of the 6+6 committee as an important step forward. However, the draft electoral laws in their current state would not enable successful elections. Further work is needed to make the draft laws implementable by addressing the legal loopholes and technical shortcomings identified by the High National Elections Commission (HNEC),” the statement added.
Bathily informed the Security Council of the intention to convene key Libyan institutions and stakeholders, or their trusted representatives, to reach a final settlement on the most contentious issues.
In the coming weeks, UNSMIL will intensify its engagement with the main Libyan institutions as well as political and security leaders to pave the way for these negotiations.
UNSMIL urged the Libyan Parliament and High Council of State (HSC) to finalize the constitutional and legal framework for the elections. It also urged them to cooperate with the HNEC in addressing the identified legal loopholes and technical shortcomings, to make the necessary technical amendments to the 6+6 draft laws to render them implementable.
“It is imperative that all Libyan stakeholders draw lessons from the pitfalls and mistakes of 2021 and 2022, and refrain from any actions, including unilateral or non-inclusive decisions, that could precipitate a crisis and divert attention from the common goal of enabling successful elections in keeping with the wishes of the Libyan people,” it concluded.
