Libya elections could be rescheduled for June: U.N. official
The Hindu
Stephanie Williams said that it is still “very reasonable and possible” for the country’s 2.8 million voters to cast their ballots by June, in line with the U.N.-brokered 2020 roadmap
A senior U.N. official said she is pushing for Libya to hold elections by June, after the county missed a December deadline to elect its first president since the 2011 ouster and killing of longtime dictator Mummar Qadhafi.
Stephanie Williams, the U.N. Special Advisor on Libya, told The Associated Press late on January 16 that it is still “very reasonable and possible” for the country’s 2.8 million voters to cast their ballots by June, in line with the U.N.-brokered 2020 roadmap.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in a report to the U.N. Security Council obtained on January 17 by The Associated Press, said it’s critical that all Libyan parties “focus on the holding of free, fair, inclusive and credible presidential and parliamentary elections as soon as possible”. The will of the 2.8 million Libyans who have registered to vote “must be respected”, he said, and Libyan authorities and institutions “must now work together to address the fundamental issues that have resulted in the postponement and create the political and security conditions necessary for holding the presidential and parliamentary elections without delay”. Libya failed to hold its first-ever presidential elections on Dec. 24 as scheduled, a major blow to international efforts to end a decade-long chaos in the oil-rich Mediterranean nation.