Haftar Calls for Holding Libyan Elections on Time

On Sunday, Commander-in-Chief of the Libyan National Army (LNA), Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar demanded that the presidential and parliamentary elections be held as scheduled on December 24. He stressed the need for armed groups spread in the country to be dissolved.

The LNA commander-in-chief stressed the importance of the Armed Forces' role in fighting terrorism and launching the political process in Libya.

In the meantime, Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives (HoR) Aguila Saleh confirmed adherence to the date of the presidential and parliamentary elections on time.

"The election of the next president of the country should be directly from the Libyan people," Saleh said, in a meeting with Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), Jan Kubis.

Notably, Kubis called on the Libyan Parliament and the High Council of State (HCS) to live up to their responsibilities and hold consultations on clarifying the constitutional basis for the December elections. They must also enact electoral legislation, within 2-3 weeks, ideally by 15-20 June.

In his closing speech during the virtual session of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF), Kubis said that this comes in line with Security Council resolution 2570. This places the responsibility squarely on the relevant authorities and institutions in Libya, including the Parliament, and the HCS.

He confirmed that a large majority of LPDF members expressed the need to end the transitional phase by holding the elections on 24 December. This is in order to give the Libyan people the chance to express their will democratically and to renew the legitimacy of national institutions through the polls.