Libyan election commission says has ‘zero’ budget for polls

Libya’s electoral commission has asked the government for $28.7 million, saying that without funding to boost its “zero” budget it cannot make plans to prepare for a vote on a new constitution and later elections.

Western powers and the UN hope Libya will hold a national election by June after a referendum on a constitutional framework to chart a way out of a conflict stemming from the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.

A French plan, backed by the United Nations, had initially called for a presidential and parliamentary vote on Dec 10.

But weeks of fighting in the capital Tripoli between competing groups and almost no progress between the North African country’s two rival Parliaments made that impossible.

Now Emad Al-Sayah, chairman of the High National Elections Commission (HNEC), said on Thursday his group was unable to even plan for the constitutional vote due to a lack of funding.

“The budget of the commission is zero, it’s red,” he told reporters. “We have financial commitments of half a million (dinars).”

He said the commission had asked the Tripoli-based government to get 40 million dinars ($28.7 million) to start the process for a constitutional vote. It was not immediately possible to reach the internationally backed government, based in Tripoli, for comment.

Sayah said that from a technical point of view, such a constitutional referendum could have been held as early as February, if a budget had been allocated.