Libya’s Serraj calls for elections early next year
GNA prime minister says presidential and parliamentary ballots could end country’s divisions
The head of Libya’s UN-backed government has called for presidential and parliamentary polls next year in a bid to unite a country beset by military and political conflict.
“The time has come for unity and the rescuing of our nation,” prime minister Fayez Al Serraj said on Saturday.
Mr Al Serraj proposed that the new president and parliament would have a mandate of up to three years, or until “the drafting and organisation of a referendum for a constitution”, with his Government of National Accord as a caretaker until the elections were held.
But holding nationwide polls would be a major challenge given Libya’s political divisions, insecurity and fighting.
Mr Al Serraj’s government has struggled to assert its authority since assuming office last year in the face of a rival administration based in eastern Libya formed after the 2014 elections.
Also on Saturday, flights resumed to and from Benghazi international airport.
The head of Libya’s UN-backed government has called for parliamentary and presidential elections in March next year.
In a speech late on Saturday, Fayez Al Serraj, prime minister of the government of national accord (GNA), also called for a national ceasefire and the gradual merging of rival parliamentary bodies based in Tripoli and eastern Libya.
He said the polls aimed to elect a new president and parliament whose mandate would be of “three years maximum, or until the drafting and organisation of a referendum for a constitution”, and the GNA would remain as a caretaker government until after the elections.
Mr Al Serraj said he was putting forward the road map because of his “determination to escape the current crisis and unify Libyans”.
“I am confident that the national spirit will overcome the narrow personal interests, and invite everyone to offer compromise even if it’s painful to do so,” he said.
Agreeing to an election plan and holding nationwide elections would be a major challenge given Libya’s political divisions, continuing insecurity, bouts of fighting and deteriorating infrastructure.
Libya slid into conflict after the uprising that toppled longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi six years ago.
The country’s most recent elections, in 2014, led to the formation of rival governments and parliaments in Tripoli and Tobruk, each backed by loose alliances of armed groups.
The GNA is the result of a UN-brokered Libya Political Agreement, a deal to stabilise and unite the country, which was signed in late 2015 with only partial support from political and armed factions.
It has limited authority and has been rejected by eastern-based factions aligned with the military commander Khalifa Haftar.
Mr Al Serraj spoke haltingly and sounded tired as he made his speech flanked by Libya’s flag and behind him the slogan: “Libya, together towards reconciliation and construction.”
He outlined a nine-point roadmap that he said would help to shake off years of security problems, division and economic woes, and was aimed at relaunching the Libya Political Agreement.
Mr Al Serraj said the lack of security was the most “thorny” issue facing Libya, and regretted that his predecessors did not disarm militias after the 2011 revolt against Qaddafi.
“We are now harvesting the fruits of these mistakes,” he said. “The time has come for unity and the rescuing of our nation.”
Since arriving in Tripoli in March last year, Mr Al Serraj has struggled to form a functioning government or tame powerful militias.
A liquidity crisis, frequent power and water cuts and failing public services have meant a deterioration in living conditions for most.
The turmoil in Libya has also affected its neighbours Tunisia and Egypt, which have suffered extremist attacks that they say were carried out by militants trained at camps in Libya.
Yesterday, Egypt’s military said its jet fighters destroyed 15 vehicles carrying weapons and explosives after they were detected getting ready to cross the Libyan border.
Egypt’s porous border with Libya has been the source of serious concern to Cairo, which said militants who attacked Christians in suicide bombings in recent months were sponsored by extremists in Libya.
In May, Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El Sisi said setbacks suffered by ISIL in Syria were driving its fighters to try to relocate to Libya and Egypt’s Sinai region.
Agreeing to elections would be a major challenge given Libya’s political divisions and bouts of fighting