Prime Minister of the National Unity Government, Abdel Hamid Dabaiba (European Archives)

The heads of the Libyan Parliament, State and Presidential Councils agreed - yesterday, Sunday - that a new unified government must be formed to supervise the long-awaited elections.

The agreement was reached during a meeting in Cairo sponsored by the League of Arab States, and included the President of the Libyan Presidential Council, Muhammad Al-Menfi, the President of the Supreme Council of State, Muhammad Takala, who are based in Tripoli, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives in Benghazi (east), Aguila Saleh.

The Arab League said in a statement that in response to the invitation of its Secretary, Al-Manfi, Saleh and Takala met “to bring closer points of view and resolve the controversial points related to how to reach the presidential and parliamentary elections.”

She continued, "With the reference of the political agreement and its annexes, it was agreed to form a technical committee within a specific period of time to consider the appropriate amendments to expand the basis of consensus and acceptance (..) and resolve the outstanding issues regarding the controversial points according to the legislation in force."

Libya has been suffering from political division for years (French-Archive)

Unified government

The three attendees said in a joint statement that they agreed “on the necessity of forming a unified government whose mission is to supervise the electoral process, provide the necessary services to the citizen, and unify sovereign positions.”

They also agreed to “call on the United Nations Support Mission in Libya and the international community to support this consensus in order to make it successful,” and to hold a second round (of the meeting) urgently to complete this agreement and bring it into force.”

The political process aimed at resolving the more than 10-year conflict in Libya has faltered since the collapse of the elections that were scheduled for December 2021, amid disagreements over the eligibility of the main candidates.

The Libyans hope to hold elections to end conflicts and divisions that have been embodied since the beginning of 2022 in the presence of two governments, one headed by Osama Hammad and appointed by the House of Representatives (east), and the other recognized by the United Nations and headquartered in the capital, Tripoli (west), which is the national unity government headed by Abdul Hamid Al-Dabaiba.

Dabaiba stressed several times that he would not give up power to a new government without holding national elections, while he did not issue an official comment regarding the Cairo meeting.

International diplomacy to resolve the conflict in Libya focuses on pressing for parliamentary and presidential elections to replace the interim political institutions, including the House of Representatives, the Supreme Council of State, and the Government of National Unity.

While all the major political players in the country have called for elections, many Libyans - according to observers - doubt that the existing politicians are really seeking to hold elections that might lead to their removal from power.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies