On Thursday, Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), Jan Kubis called on the Libyan Parliament and the High Council of State (HCS) to live up to their responsibilities and hold consultations on clarifying the constitutional basis for the December elections. They must also enact an electoral legislation, within 2-3 weeks, ideally by 15-20 June.
In his closing speech during the virtual session of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF), Kubis said that this comes in line with Security Council resolution 2570. This places the responsibility squarely on the relevant authorities and institutions in Libya, including the Parliament, and the HCS.
He confirmed that a large majority of LPDF members expressed the need to end the transitional phase by holding the elections on 24 December. This is in order to give the Libyan people the chance to express their will democratically, and to renew the legitimacy of national institutions through the polls.
Kubis added that the United Nations and the international community will continue supporting the outcomes of the LPDF talks, and the December elections. He also thanked all LPDF members for their active participation over the past two days during the virtual meeting, saying, “You have shared your opinions and concerns with frankness and passion, and tried to narrow and bridge the differences and broaden consensus on the Legal Council’s proposal.”
“At the same time, with all due respect to the honourable members of the LPDF, and please no offence meant here, sometimes I had the feeling that we are not at an LPDF session but rather a session of the HCS, or a session of the Parliament. Sometimes instead of focusing on how to achieve the paramount objective of the LPDF roadmap, by creating conditions for holding the national elections on 24 December 2021, some interventions introduced issues, as if trying to resolve all the outstanding problems that have accumulated without resolution in the past 10 years,” Kubis stated.
“You have all stressed your commitment to the principles and objectives of the roadmap that you adopted in November last year in Tunis. In addition to the need to ensure that necessary conditions for the holding of elections are in place to ensure that inclusive, representative, fair, and credible elections can take place in a safe, neutral, and peaceful environment,” he concluded.