A Libyan parliamentary committee has said it has become “impossible” to hold a long-awaited presidential vote in two days as scheduled, in a big blow to international efforts to end a decade of chaos in the oil-rich north African country.
It was the first official statement that the vote would not happen on Friday, although it had been widely expected amid mounting challenges and calls for a delay. For nearly a year, the election was the linchpin of international efforts to bring peace to Libya, and many have warned that either scenario — holding the vote on time or postponing it — could be a destabilising setback.
In a letter to Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh, Al-Hadi al-Sagheir, head of the committee tasked with following the electoral process, said the group found “it is impossible to hold the election as scheduled on December 24”. He did not specify whether another date had been set for the voting, or if it had been cancelled altogether.
The country’s election commission disbanded electoral committees late on Tuesday, and did not name a final list of candidates as it was supposed to.
Around 100 people had put themselves forward, including several high-profile individuals who had been banned from the race — including the son of the late dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was ousted and killed in a Nato-backed uprising in 2011.
Mr Al-Sagheir said his committee had reached its conclusion after “reviewing technical, security and judicial reports”. He urged Mr Saleh, who suspended his duties to join the presidential race, to return to his job so he could “mobilise efforts” to help “re-draw a roadmap” to revive the political process.
The vote had faced many challenges, including disputes over the laws governing the elections and occasional infighting among armed groups. Other obstacles included a long-running rift between the country’s east and west, and the presence of thousands of foreign fighters and troops.
Libya plunged into turmoil after the 2011 uprising and split between rival governments — one in the east, backed by military commander Khalifa Hifter, and another UN-supported administration in the capital, Tripoli, in the west. Each side is supported by a variety of militias and foreign powers.
In April 2019, the commander and his forces, backed by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, launched an offensive to try to capture Tripoli. His campaign collapsed after Turkey stepped up its military support of the UN-backed government with hundreds of troops and thousands of Syrian mercenaries.
The October 2020 ceasefire led to the formation of a transitional government with elections scheduled for December 24. The fate of that government is now unclear, as the Parliamentary committee has said the government’s mandate ends on December 24.
