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Western powers urge Libya to set new election date “quickly” Election News

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The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and the United States have called on Libya to set a new date for a postponed presidential vote.

The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy and the United States have called for a new date for war-torn Libya. postponing presidential elections fast.

“We call on the Libyan authorities to hold fast-paced elections to respect the wishes of the Libyan people, to quickly set a deadline for voting and to publish the final list of presidential candidates without delay,” a joint statement from the five nations said on Friday. .

Authorities overseeing Libya’s first presidential election said it was “impossible” to hold talks on Friday.

The vote was to give a new start to the oil-rich North African country, which overthrew and assassinated longtime leader Muammar Gaddafi more than 10 years after the 2011 uprising.

But speculation of a delay it had been assembling for weeks. There were heated discussions about the legal basis of the vote, the powers of the winner, and the candidacies of several people with deep divisions.

On Wednesday, the chairman of the parliamentary committee overseeing the vote wrote to the spokesman for the assembly: “After consulting the technical, judicial and security reports, we inform you that it is impossible to hold elections on December 24, 2021.”

He did not propose an alternative to Friday, the date set by the United Nations peace talks in Tunis last year.

Of the town election committee, HNEC on Wednesday proposed postponing the vote to January 24.

Libya’s parliament will meet on Monday to discuss the new election calendar.

The election, which was intended to go hand in hand with parliamentary questioning, was part of a UN-led peace process, but UN Special envoy Jan Kubis resigned a few weeks before the vote.

A point of contention was the controversially approved presidential election law by spokeswoman Aguila Saleh, who was criticized by critics for rejecting the fair process and for launching his ally of renegade military commander Khalifa Haftar.

Another candidate is Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam, a symbol of the division of the old regime wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for allegations of war crimes.

The Libyan parliament said in September that it would not approve the interim government of the National Union (GNU) from December 24, but said statements by France, Germany, Italy, Britain and the United States should remain in place.

The statement said at an international meeting last month that the agreement would not be transferred until the election results were announced.

Later, the British embassy said on Twitter that it was still recognizing GNU and would not accept any attempt to form a government breach.

Public outrage

The Libyans expressed anger at the delay.

In Benghazi, 81-year-old Wahbi Tarkhan said he and his wife had registered for the election and were disappointed with the collapse of the process.

“We were looking forward to this day in our head,” he said.

UN Special Adviser Stephanie Williams said on Thursday that she had constantly heard people in Libya meeting expressing their desire for the election.

“I call on the organizations concerned to honor and support the will of the 2.8 million Libyans who have registered to vote,” he said.

Any new attempt to re-enter the electoral process will have to be met with a delay in its own risks in the face of the dangers of re-election in elections without the consent of the rules.

The last election in Libya in 2014 was the trigger for the division of the rival factions in the east and west into a parallel administration war.

Musa al-Sulaimani, who has run in the parliamentary elections, said he was very frustrated with the delay.

“This was something that angered the streets of Libya,” he said.



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