The Head of Libya’s High National Elections Commission (HNEC), Emad al-Din al-Sayeh, said that the Commission did not receive any money from the international community. He also stated that the information circulating regarding its signing of an agreement with France is inaccurate.
In press statements, he added: “The Libyan officials are calling for elections under the supervision of the United Nations (UN) and not the Commission, and then comes the role of the Commission. The UN works with the funds of the international community, and all international support is provided to the UN. There is a misunderstanding of the government as well. They see the signing of support agreements between the international community and the UN, and they think that the HNEC is asking for money from them.”
He continued that, “in an official speech, we fulfilled our needs for some time, represented by financial support worth 50 million Libyan dinars additional to complete the entitlement to cover the elections, and we requested an additional 50 million because we were only expecting to hold parliamentary elections. The presidential elections take more time and rounds, and the number of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) employees, who are 35 thousand, also need expenses.”
He pointed out that if it is agreed to hold a referendum on the constitution, it will need to allocate a separate budget, and that the Security Council’s demand that the constitutional base is completed before next July came at the request of the HNEC. He said that, “we are considering voter registration before receiving the constitutional base in July, to take advantage of the time.”