Libya’s top governing bodies agreed Thursday on a roadmap for holding long-awaited presidential and parliamentary elections within eight months.
The heads of the parliament, Presidential Council and High Council of State said in a joint statement that the roadmap sought to end Libya’s long-running transitional period and “unify the country’s institutions”.
The oil-rich North African country has struggled to recover from the chaos that followed the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that toppled longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi.
It remains divided between a UN-recognised government headquartered in the capital Tripoli and an eastern rival administration operating from Benghazi and Tobruk.
Benghazi-based parliament speaker Aguila Salah, along with Presidential Council chief Mohamed el-Menfi and High Council of State leader Mohammed Takala — both based in Tripoli — said the elections would be held simultaneously by February 17, 2027.
The roadmap would also implement “economic and financial reforms guaranteeing the protection of public funds”, the statement read.
The statement announced the establishment of a committee including representatives from the country’s east and the west to oversee the elections.
Presidential elections aiming to unify the fractured country were scheduled for late 2021, but were postponed indefinitely.
The joint statement came hours before the head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, Hanna Tetteh, was to address the UN Security Council on the country’s recent developments.
Several reports have recently pointed that the United States — through President Donald Trump’s senior adviser on Arab and African affairs Massad Boulos — has been pushing for a rapprochement between Libya’s eastern and western authorities.
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