On Saturday, the Special Representative of the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, said if electoral laws are put in place in June, elections could be held at the end of this year.
“I believe that the Libyan House of Representatives (HoR) and the High Council of State (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.
The UN Envoy added that if the 6+6 committee, comprising six members from the Parliament and six from the HCS worked within a reasonable time frame and came out with a constitutional and legal basis for the elections, this would restore the Libyan people’s confidence in the two institutions.
He stressed the importance of creating the necessary security environment for the elections, urging for peaceful dialogue between the country’s security authorities to pave the way for elections.
The UN Envoy stressed that the transitional stages and interim governments caused prolongation of the crisis in Libya and exacerbated economic as well as social conditions in the country.
“The Parliament passed the 13th constitutional amendment and the HCS approved it at an accelerated pace, which is a step in the right direction,” he noted.
Bathily also affirmed that he had conducted extensive consultations with all Libyan parties since he assumed his duties to stress the need to complete the constitutional rule.
The UN diplomat called on the international parties to respond to the call of the Libyans in their aspiration for the elections. “Elections are necessary to restore the legitimacy that represents the Libyan people,” he added.
Bathily concluded, “postponing the elections was a disappointment to the Libyans, and the international community should help conduct a Libyan-Libyan dialogue.”
Notably, Bathily recently announced an initiative aimed at enabling legislative and presidential elections this year, and will set up a high-level steering panel, he told the UN Security Council on Monday.
During his briefing, Bathily said the mechanism “would bring together representatives of political institutions, major political figures, tribal leaders, civil society organisations, security officials, and other relevant groups.”
Bathily has said in televised statements that his upcoming roadmap “will be supported by all international and local actors inside and outside Libya.”
He added, “we put forward this set of recommendations that will lead to a roadmap for holding elections in 2023.”
The UN Envoy pointed out that the “elected legitimate institutions are what will achieve stability in Libya. We aspired to achieve this, and there are many expectations about the electoral process through political dialogue.”
Bathily stressed the need for all parties to “come together to discuss the security of the electoral process, and how to best conduct it.”
The UN Envoy pointed out that the “international community has a role to support the intra-Libyan solution, and now it is in the development stage.”
