Constitutional basis: UN proposal to make upcoming Libyan elections successful

Mustafa Kamel

The United Nations Support Mission in Libya has revealed that a hypothetical meeting was held for the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum to discuss the proposal of the legal committee during this month regarding the constitutional basis for the elections scheduled to take place on December 24, 2021, which prompted Libyan Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh to say that if the dialogue forum agreed on a constitutional rule, it would be referred to the parliament for approval.

Publishing the proposal

The UN mission published the proposal document and the letter of the Special Envoy, stressing that this is what the legal committee emanating from the forum agreed upon during its meeting in Tunis, which took place April 7-9, and during the consultations that took place later, facilitated by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya.

The UN mission clarified that after discussing the rule, the results of the deliberations on this proposal will be referred to the House of Representatives and the High Council of State for consideration, noting that the deadline for the constitutional and electoral framework set on July 1, as called for by Security Council Resolution 2570, must be observed in order to enable the High National Elections Commission to proceed with its preparation.

The statement published by the UN mission confirmed that it will hold a hypothetical two-day meeting of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum on May 26 and 27 to complete the legal committee’s proposal regarding the constitutional basis for parliamentary and presidential elections.

The mission expressed its regret over recent attempts to mislead public opinion and undermine the political process in Libya by circulating forged documents on social media claiming that they are the constitutional basis for the elections.

The statement urged the Libyan people and the concerned parties to rely only on documents issued by the mission, which are available on its official website and its official social media platforms.

Referral to parliament for approval

Earlier, Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh discussed in his office in the city of al-Qobba with the UN envoy the situation in Libya at all levels, the performance of the government during the last period, and the important role of parliament during this period to reach the elections on the scheduled date, explaining that if the Dialogue Forum agreed on a constitutional basis for holding elections, it will be referred to the House of Representatives for approval and inclusion in the Constitutional Declaration.

In the event that the forum does not agree on a constitutional basis, then House of Representatives Resolution No. 05 of 2014, which mandates conducting the presidential elections directly by the people, will be implemented, according to Saleh, who mentioned that the proposal for the bill for the president’s election by the people is ready to be presented to the House.