TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Libyan leaders were due to meet in Morocco on Monday to finalize a deal on new electoral laws, but any deal they announce on voting rules or a new interim government is likely to trigger opposition that could further delay the political process
The head of the House of Representatives (HoR), Aguila Saleh, and the head of the High State Council (HSC), Khaled al-Mishri, left for Morocco early this morning and hoped to close a deal, a HoR member and Meshri’s spokesperson.
The two are likely to present any deal as a major breakthrough after months of deadlock: UN envoy Adoulaye Bathily has said there could be national elections by the end of the year if a deal is reached this month .
However, 61 HoR members and some HSC members have already objected to the way their leaders have been negotiating their deal, and have said they will oppose its ratification.
Disputes over fundamental constitutional issues, such as the role of a president and parliament, and over key issues of electoral law, including the eligibility of divisive candidates, have long bedeviled Libya’s political process.
The country has seen little peace or security since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that ended Muammar Gaddafi’s four-decade rule. Libya was split in 2014 between warring eastern and western factions that still control most of the territory.
Since the main factions agreed to a ceasefire in 2020, peace efforts have focused on pushing for national elections to create governing institutions with broad political legitimacy that existing bodies are seen to lack.
The HoR was elected as the national parliament in 2014 for a four-year term. The HSC was created as part of a political agreement in 2015 by members of a previous interim parliament elected in 2012.
The Government of National Unity in Tripoli under Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah was created in 2021 as part of a UN-backed process, but was only supposed to rule until national elections that were scheduled for end of that year.
Since the December 2021 elections collapsed due to disputes over the rules, both the HoR under Saleh and the HSC under Meshri have rejected the legitimacy of Dbeibah’s government.
However, under a 2015 political agreement, the international community requires the two bodies to approve any new constitutional rules that would allow for an election or change of government.
Many Libyans have expressed skepticism that their political leaders are negotiating in good faith, believing that they are unwilling to hold elections that could remove them from their positions of power.
(Reporting from the Reuters Libya newsroom, writing by Angus McDowall, editing by Andrew Heavens)
