Libya’s Parliament Meets To Discuss Election Law

Libyan Parliament is holding a plenary session at its headquarters in Benghazi to discuss the election draft law approved by the 6+6 committee.

The aim of Monday’s talks is to stage parliamentary and presidential elections after a hiatus of nearly two years.

Members of the Joint 6+6 Committee, formed by Libya’s House of Representatives and High Council, last month announced they had reached an agreement on presidential and legislative electoral laws, pending the signing of the deal.

Elections were expected to take place in December 2021 but disagreements over who should stand in the polls and other issues meant they were never held. The UN has been working to ease the situation, in the hope elections could take place this year.

Under the 6+6 proposal, elections will be held under a new government. Neither the prime minister of that government nor any of its members would be eligible to run.

The latest political developments are a blow to Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, who insists his government should organise the elections.

Engulfed by more than a decade of civil conflict, Libya is divided between Mr Dbeibah’s government in Tripoli and a rival administration based in the east of the country headed by Fathi Bashagha, a former interior minister.

Since the failure to hold a vote in December 2021, Libya’s leaders have been in political deadlock with competing proposals for the constitutional basis of its polls.

 

One of the main disagreements involves eligibility criteria for candidacy.

The two sides had agreed that candidates with military affiliations must automatically resign from their posts. Another stipulation is that candidates with dual nationality renounce their second citizenship before running.