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Libya PM suggests electronic referendum to exit current political deadlock

February 17, 2022 at 10:43 am

Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh in Tripoli, Libya on 8 July 2021 [Hazem Turkia/Anadolu Agency]

Libya’s Interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh has suggested carrying out an electronic referendum instead of mediation to exit the current political deadlock, Arabic media reported yesterday.

Dbeibeh suggested only one question: Do you support a new transitional period or new elections? The only available answers will be yes or no.

He said that there should be international monitors if such a proposal was adopted in order to give it more credibility.

The UN-backed prime minister reiterated that the Libyan Constitution should also be put forward for an electronic vote.

“It is impossible to solve the Libyan crisis except through electronic voting because technology dominates all aspects of life,” Dbeibeh said, noting that the Libyans are ready for this development.

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Libyans want guarantees, and the government will make sure that every Libyan has a valid ID to be ready to take part in any elections, he added.

Last Thursday, the Libyan parliament in Tobruk, under the control of renegade General Khalifa Haftar, appointed former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha as a new prime minister.

Dbeibah pledged he would “accept no new transitional phase or parallel authority” and would hand over power only to an elected government.

“The parliament’s selection of a new government is another attempt to enter Tripoli by force,” he told Libya Al Ahrar TV, promising to draft a new election law to solve the country’s political crisis.