Libya | Parliamentary elections postponed until January, presidential elections to be held 24/12

Defence Redefined

06/10/2021

The parliamentary elections in Libya will be held in January, a month after the presidential elections, to be held on December 24, the Parliament Spokesperson announced tonight.

“The election of the members of the House of Representatives will take place 30 days after the election of the president,” spokesman Abdallah Blichek told a news conference in Tobruk, where the parliament is based. The postponement of the parliamentary elections is due to the fact that the presidential ones have priority, he argued.

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On Monday, parliament approved the law governing parliamentary elections, about three weeks after the ratification of another controversial law concerning the presidential election.

The two elections were originally scheduled to take place simultaneously on December 24, according to an UN-sponsored roadmap to get Libya out of the major political crisis of recent years. 

The Libyan Supreme Council (HCE), acting as the Senate, has so far not reacted to the announcement of the Parliament. Earlier, however, it announced that it rejects the election law that was approved on Monday, stressing that it was never consulted.

The HCE had also opposed the presidential election law, saying it was “tailored” to favor the strongman of eastern Libya, Khalifa Haftar.

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Libya, which sank into chaos after the 2011 fall of the Muammar Qaddafi regime, is trying to emerge from a decade of conflict marked by rival powers and bloody violence.

Following the end of fighting in the summer of 2020 between the two rival camps, a unified and transitional government was formed in March to lead the transition. The formation of this government at the end of a UN-sponsored political process offered a glimmer of hope.

This government, led by businessman Abdelhamid Dibeba, has been tasked by 75 Libyan figures from all factions that have met under the auspices of the UN to unite the institutions and complete the endless political transition by holding parliamentary and presidential elections.

With information from: CNA, defenceredefined.com.cy

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