The head of the High Electoral Commission in Libya, Imad al-Sayeh, announced the commission's readiness to organize the elections as soon as a political agreement is reached.
Today, Saturday, the US embassy in Tripoli said - in a tweet on Twitter - that Al-Sayeh confirmed the commission's readiness for the elections during his meeting in the Libyan capital with US Ambassador Richard Norland.
The embassy added that the joint committee of the House of Representatives and the High Council of State proposed by Stephanie Williams, the advisor to the Secretary-General of the United Nations on Libya, to adopt a constitutional basis is the next practical step towards organizing the elections, and called on all parties to support this process.
The US ambassador also met with the heads of committees in the Supreme Council of State to discuss efforts to establish a constitutional basis and restore momentum for the presidential and parliamentary elections in Libya.
Norland expressed his satisfaction that the Supreme Council of State appointed representatives to the constitutional dialogue committee, noting that the meeting also discussed the importance of the government's ability to support elections and find a solution to the current political crisis.
The meetings of the US ambassador come while Western calls for a quick return to the electoral process, which was disrupted in Libya due to the lack of constitutional and legal frameworks agreed upon between the various parties.
It also comes in light of a dispute over the legitimacy of the institutions, as the current national unity government headed by Abdel Hamid al-Dabaiba refuses to hand over power to a government formed by former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha, commissioned by the House of Representatives held in Tobruk (eastern Libya).
1/2 Ambassador Norland: “I met with the heads of several committees of the Supreme Council of State to discuss efforts to establish a constitutional basis and restore momentum for the presidential and parliamentary elections in #Libya. pic.twitter.com/ZdHdTl8vfb
— US Embassy - Libya (@USEmbassyLibya) March 19, 2022
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Meanwhile, 6 Libyan parties demanded the consensus committee formed by the House of Representatives and the Supreme Council of State to formulate a constitutional rule that guarantees the organization of parliamentary elections as soon as possible, in which candidacy is based on the list system.
In a joint statement issued yesterday, Friday, the parties called the National Front, Justice and Construction, the Alliance of National Forces, National Action, Change, and Libya’s technocrats, for the necessity of allocating an 80% share of seats to the parties.
The electoral law drafted by the House of Representatives last year, which was intended to be the basis for parliamentary elections, stipulates individual candidacy for elections, which prevents parties from running in the list system.
Presidential elections were supposed to be held on December 24, to be followed by parliamentary elections at the beginning of this year, but they were postponed to an unspecified date.