Libya: Cairo consultations failed, says Constitutional Authority

A member of the Constituent Assembly for the Drafting of the Constitution in Libya, has said that the Cairo consultations on the constitutional path have failed, Arabi21 has reported.

“The results of what happened in Cairo were expected and confirms that what the UN mission is doing aims to deal a blow to the constitutional path and plunge Libya into a transitional phase that may be the worst,” claimed Nadia Omran. “Despite the media pumping a large number of articles regarding the consensus, the truth appeared in the final statement of the mission because the lack of consensus on the constitutional institutions was not and will not be resolved except by a referendum.”

According to the Libyan official, there was no agreement on the structure of the legislative authority, its competencies, and its headquarters; on the executive authority; and on the conditions for electing the president. “And there was no agreement to allow the military to assume sovereign positions, nor was it agreed to allow those who have another nationality to hold sovereign positions. There was also no agreement on the local administrative organisation.”

The aforementioned matters, as well as others, she added, confirm that the formulation of rules governing the country can never be in violation of the constitutional path stipulated in the constitutional declaration and the texts of the political agreement. “Nor can it be achieved by allowing other countries to interfere in a sovereign matter such as the constitution and manipulate it according to their interests. It cannot be confined to a group that has neither the experience nor the know-how in drafting constitutions.” A draft constitution, she insisted, must be submitted to the will of the people of Libya through a national referendum.

The head of the UN Support Mission in Libya, Stephanie Williams, had announced the end of the third and final round of negotiations of the joint committee of the House of Representatives and the state regarding the constitutional path. She noted that differences remained regarding the measures regulating the transitional phase leading to elections, and called on the two presidencies to meet within 10 days at a location that will be determined later, to overcome pending issues.

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