Libya PM backs December elections

Libyan Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah today supported the holding of national elections on 24 December as envisaged in a UN-backed peace plan, Reuters reports.

Speaking at the Libya Stabilisation Conference in Tripoli, he said it was possible to end the lengthy crisis that has engulfed the country since the NATO-backed uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

“We support the efforts of the higher election committee to hold [the vote] on the planned date. I call for a wide and effective participation of Libyans in the elections,” Dbeibah said.

The election, agreed under a UN-supported peace process, has been held up as a key step in efforts to end a decade of violence by creating a new political leadership whose legitimacy is widely accepted.

Wrangling over the constitutional basis for an election, the rules governing the vote and questions over its credibility have threatened to unravel the peace process.

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The country has had little stability since the uprising against Gaddafi and the legitimacy of its various political institutions have been questioned repeatedly since then.

Any move to hold an election without widespread acceptance by those rival political institutions could lead major factions to reject the vote, potentially leading to another violent schism.