UN envoy wants Libyan poll by June

The UN envoy for Libya hopes another attempt to hold an election will take place by June after he scrapped a December plan. But he said Libyans should first use a national conference in early 2019 to decide on the format.

The UN envoy for Libya hopes another attempt to hold an election will take place by June after he scrapped a December plan, but said Libyans should first use a national conference in early 2019 to decide on the format.

UN special envoy Ghassan Salame decided to abandon a plan to hold elections on December 10 after a spike in violence in Libya, which has been gripped by conflict and paralysed by political deadlock since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

Salame was speaking before the start of a conference in Palermo organised by Rome with the aim of pushing forward a new UN plan. Salame said last week this plan will include an election in spring.

The envoy said on Monday this means the vote will be held between late March and late June, but that the format of the poll will depend on what is decided at the national conference scheduled for early 2019.

“We want to ask at the national conference what type of election do you want, parliamentary or presidential, and what kind of law,” Salame said.

The conference should “preferably” take place on Libyan soil, the envoy said. Surveys showed 80% of Libyans want elections to end the stalemate between Libya’s rival administrations, both backed by armed groups, he said.

He hopes the Palermo conference will put pressure on the internationally recognised parliament, the House of Representatives (HOR), which has refused to approve an election law.

“The HOR has been sterile, has produced no law … I think we need wider representation of the Libyans,” he said.

Salame also called on the central bank to unify the exchange rate of the dinar to the dollar to prevent armed groups with access to cheap dollars from selling them on the black market at a premium.

Libya has introduced a fee on hard-currency transactions that has helped to lower the spread between official and black market rates, but a unified rate is needed. “We applaud the results

… we want this rate to go even lower,” Salame said. /

THE HOUSE HAS BEEN STERILE, HAS PRODUCED NO LAW. I THINK WE NEED WIDER REPRESENTATION OF THE LIBYANS