On Wednesday, Member of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum’s (LPDF) legal committee, Abdel-Rahman Al-Suwaihli said that there are those who believe that the people directly electing the president represents a danger to Libya, and a threat to the February 17 revolution.
In video statements to the Al-Marsad newspaper, Al-Suwaihli pointed out that “there is not a single (political) street in Libya, rather there are Libyan streets,” referring to political orientations.
He criticised the live broadcast of the LPDF virtual session on Wednesday, claiming that the matter put pressure on the LPDF members to take certain positions. Al-Suwaihki held the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) responsible, should LPDF members be harmed as a result of expressing their opinions. He gave an example of a member who told him that he had been threatened to vote for a specific proposal, related to direct presidential elections.
Al-Suwaihli added that creating a political environment for free, fair, and credible elections is more important than completing the constitutional basis for the general elections. He went on to say that only about 18 of the 74 LPDF members approved the live broadcast.
“What do we want from this election? Do we want to vote from the stage of division to a better stage? Which is better for the Libyans? To reach consensus elections that achieve a great deal of successes?” he asked.