Libya: failure in the negotiations for a constitutional framework for the elections

Stephanie Williams (screen), the UN Secretary General's special adviser on Libya, during negotiations between the two Libyan camps in Switzerland in 2021. (File image).

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After a week of discussions in Cairo under the aegis of the UN, the consultations to determine a constitutional framework allowing the holding of the elections ended in another failure.

These talks had started on June 14 in Cairo, but failed, announced on Monday June 20 the special adviser to the Secretary General of the UN for Libya, Stephanie Williams.

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Embarrassed, her features tense,

announced, early this Monday morning in a press release read in Arabic, the closure of discussions on the constitutional framework governing the next elections.

Extended until dawn, these discussions could not succeed.

The UN, still

, called for a meeting, within ten days, between the two presidents of Parliament and the High Council of State, Aguila Saleh and Khaled al Mishri, in order to reach an agreement. on a few points that are still stuck.

According to several observers, this new attempt by the UN would also have little chance of succeeding.

“ 

,” conceded Stephanie Williams.

Last chance meeting...

These differences over the draft Libyan constitution focus on several issues, according to members of the Joint Commission.

The president, if he is a soldier, should he leave the army, 5 years before the elections or not?

Should he or not have an important diploma?

Could he or not be married to a foreigner?

This new failure comes, in any case, at a critical moment for Libya, torn between two governments who are fighting over legality and power and which cannot find the way out of the transition period.

These negotiations took place within the framework of a joint Libyan commission composed of members of the House of Representatives (the Libyan parliament) and the High Council of State, an advisory institution.

The failure of this third and final round of talks, considered "the last chance meeting", could send the organization of elections in Libya back to the Greek calendar.   

My statement following the close of the third and final round of consultations of the UN-Facilitated HoR/HCS Joint Committee to Determine the Libyan Constitutional Framework for Elections: https://t.co/O1GwgosEOW pic.twitter.com/b7ByaoSJGu

— Stephanie Turco Williams (@SASGonLibya) June 20, 2022

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