Khaled Al-Mashri, head of the Supreme Council of State in Libya, accused the House of Representatives of violating the political agreement by issuing a law on presidential elections, at a time when 5 Western countries called for these elections to be held on time at the end of this year.

In a speech he delivered today, Sunday, during a session of the Supreme Council of State in Tripoli, Al-Mashri said that the House of Representatives must agree with the State Council to issue laws related to elections in accordance with the provisions of the political agreement.

Al-Mashri added that bypassing the political agreement may have serious consequences, stressing that there should be consensus to pass laws, as he put it.

Al-Mashri's statements come amid accusations of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh, of providing a service to retired Major General Khalifa Haftar, who is expected to run for the presidential elections, which are supposed to take place by direct voting in parallel with the legislative elections on December 24.

Last Thursday, the Supreme Council of State - which represents a second chamber of Parliament and must be consulted before passing any law - denounced what he described as Saleh's unilateral measure, which is the issuance of a "flawed" law for the presidential elections, accusing him of acquiring powers he does not possess in order to obstruct the upcoming elections.

In addition to the Supreme Council of State, 22 members of the House of Representatives announced their rejection of this step, which they said violated the interim constitutional declaration, the political agreement, and the internal rules of Parliament, accusing the Speaker of the House of Representatives of not submitting the text for a parliamentary vote.

The law - which was referred to the High Elections Commission - includes an article stating that "a military person can run for the position of president on the condition that he stops working and exercising his duties 3 months before the election date" and that "if he is not elected, he returns to his previous work."

Today, the Electoral Commission confirmed its official receipt of the presidential election law issued by the House of Representatives, held in the city of Tobruk (in the east of the country).


The elections are on time

Meanwhile, the United States, Germany, France, Italy and Britain today urged the Libyan parties to hold the elections on time.

The five countries said - in a joint statement issued by their embassies in Libya - that they join the UN envoy to Libya, Jan Kubis, in calling on all Libyan parties to ensure the holding of comprehensive, free and fair parliamentary and presidential elections on December 24, 2021.

And it considered that holding such elections, as approved in the road map of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum in Tunisia in November 2020, and which was emphasized in Security Council Resolution No. 2570, is an essential step in achieving more stability and unification of Libya, and its results must be respected. by everyone.

The UN envoy had said that failure to hold elections on time could lead to a serious deterioration of the situation in Libya, division and conflict.