BENGHAZI: Libya’s parliament is to meet on Monday to debate a new timeline for elections, an official said, after presidential polls set for this week were postponed.
The House of Representatives had on Wednesday deemed the vote, meant to draw a line under years of conflict in the North African nation, “impossible” to hold on time.
On Thursday, the parliamentary source who asked to remain anonymous said that a committee had been formed to set out a new roadmap.
The official said the assembly may propose reshuffling or replacing the current unity government.
The poll was meant to take place just over a year after a landmark east-west ceasefire in a country that has seen a decade of conflict since the 2011 revolt that overthrew dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
But the run-up to the country’s first-ever presidential election has been overshadowed by angry disputes over its legal basis and the candidacies of several controversial figures including Kadhafi’s son, Seif al Islam.
One point of contention was a presidential elections law controversially passed by speaker Aguila Saleh, which critics say bypassed due process and favoured a run by his ally, eastern military chief Khalifa Haftar.
The law was strongly opposed by factions in western Libya, where Haftar had waged a year-long battle to seize Tripoli.
The electoral board has suggested pushing the vote back by a month to January 24, but given the animosity between the eastern-based parliament and authorities in Tripoli, agreeing a new date will be far from easy.
The delay is also embarrassing for the United Nations, which had shepherded the October 2020 ceasefire and a dialogue process intended to help stabilise the country.
The world body’s envoy Jan Kubis quit just a month before the polls, and American diplomat Stephanie Williams was appointed as the UN secretary-general’s special adviser on Libya.
Williams has been in Libya for several days meeting with presidential candidates.
On Thursday, she met Saleh, and “welcomed his commitment for the continuation of the electoral process”, according to her Twitter feed.
FRUSTRATION
Libyans have voiced a mix of frustration and anxiety after elections set for Friday were postponed.
“I had picked up my voting card and I was waiting for the election,” said trader Nabil al Sharef, sat at a cafe in Tripoli, the capital in the west.
“For me, this delay is a setback and a disappointment,” the 51-year-old said.
The poll was meant to take place just over a year after a landmark east-west ceasefire.
The delay will be a disappointment to some 2.5 million Libyans who had collected their voter cards, out of a population of seven million.
But for Sharef, the situation could get a lot worse.
“I’m waiting for the war to break out again, because each faction only serves its own interests, and the people who were against the elections are backed by armed groups,” he said.
“The main obstacle to the elections is the parliament,” said Mohamad Treish, a phone company employee.
Businessman Ibrahim Ali-Bek believes war could easily break out again.
If it does, “normal citizens will pay the price,” he said.
At the other end of the country in Benghazi, the birthplace of the uprising against Gaddafi, residents face similar problems.
Engineer Mohamed El Jadi says he took part in the revolution in the hope of “more freedom and prosperity”.
El Jadi said he was disappointed by the delay to the elections.
“Our standard of living has dropped, our salaries haven’t changed despite inflation and we’re living in an unstable environment,” he said.
“The main players in the conflict, who mostly then decided to stand in the elections, knew they had little chance of winning. That’s why they disrupted it,” he said. – AFP
