Libya Polls: Amid standoff, UN vows support to hold elections before Christmas

Amid a standoff between the Libyan government and the country’s Presidential Council just before the elections, the UN on Sunday vowed their support for the upcoming elections in Libya, news agency Xinhua reported. The media report said Assistant Secretary-General and Coordinator of the UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) Raisedon Zenenga, during a virtual conference with several groups of civil society, agreed on a mutual decision to hold the elections on the scheduled date. The representatives from all parts of Libya stressed that the upcoming election was necessary in order to save the country from political crises.

"Participants shared their views on elections, with a common message that the goal for the elections should be to deliver stability and to enable the country to go out of recurrent political crises," the UNSMIL said in a post on Twitter.

He reiterated UNSMIL’s commitment to supporting Libyans in achieving elections that are timely, credible and inclusive, in line with the Libyan political road map and relevant Security Council resolutions, and which will yield stability for Libya, said a statement released on the microblogging site after the meeting. It is worth noting that the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) elected a new executive authority of a unity government and a presidency council earlier this February. The new appointment ended years of political division in the North African country, reported Xinhua.

Govt rejects suspension of FM weeks before Libya polls

Notably, all the developments came a day after the government rejected a decision by the country’s presidential council to suspend the foreign minister over allegations of monopolizing foreign policy. The decision also comes a few days ahead of an international conference in Paris to push for holding the vote as scheduled on December 24. The presidential council doesn’t have the right to suspend Foreign Minister Najla Mangoush, said the Government of National Unity (GNU) in a statement and hailed the minister’s efforts as the county’s chief diplomat.

Further, the statement hailed the work of the diplomat at an international conference held in the capital of Tripoli last month. According to the Libyan Government, the main aim of the conference was to resolve the country’s most perplexing issues ahead of general elections. It said the Foreign Minister tackled the issue in a well behaved and professional manner.

(Image: Twitter/@UNSMILibya)