From Cairo: “HoR, HCS Announce Election Law Deal”
Parliament (HoR) Speaker Aguila Saleh and Head of the High Council of State (HCS) Khaled Al-Mishri appeared in a joint press conference from Cairo on Thursday to declare an agreement on the constitutional document.
The deal, created in the Egyptian Parliament’s halls, provides that committees of both sides refer the document to their councils for approval.
The two parties also agreed to set a clear and specific road map they would announce later to complete all procedures related to the electoral process, including the foundations and laws, the executive actions, and the unification of institutions.
During the press conference, attended by the Speaker of the Egyptian Parliament, Aguila and Al-Mishri praised the role of international and local parties, led by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya and its head Abdoulaye Bathily, in addition to the “friendly and brotherly countries seeking Libya’s stability, safety, and territorial integrity.”
Saleh said, “the elections are the prime goal, and this will be possible after reaching full agreement on the laws governing the process.”
He went on to add that “elections will be possible when the logistical and security measures are available,” as he stressed the need for a unified authority to conduct the polls.
The HoR speaker indicated that a roadmap for the electoral process would be discussed later in a meeting inside Libya.
For his part, Al-Mishri backed the Egyptian-led agreement, but on the other hand, beneath the surface, there seemed to be nothing new.
As he said following previous meetings with Saleh, Al-Mishri confirmed that the two sides reached a consensus on the draft constitutional “except for one or two items,” which he did not disclose.
However, he deemed the step very advanced, saying that it ends a controversial chapter, which enables them “to put the cart on the track and advance towards the polls as swiftly as possible.”
“We agreed in full conformity with the HoR to draft electoral laws, but if this does not happen, the laws will be subject to a referendum, where the opinion of the people, the source of the authorities, will be heard,” the HCS head said.
