The Diplomat
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Wednesday signed an agreement with Spain to provide technical and advisory support to the stalled electoral process in Libya. The agreement was signed at the Spanish Embassy in Tripoli by Marc-André Franche, on behalf of UNDP Libya, and the Spanish Ambassador to Libya, Javier Garcia-Larrache.
According to the Middle East Monitor newspaper (MEMO), the head of the Libyan Electoral Commission, Imad Al-Sayeh, was present at the meeting, which aims to support the UNDP project ‘Promoting Elections for the People of Libya’ (PEPOL), overseen by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL). UNDP Libya signed a similar agreement in December with the German and French governments to support the PEPOL project.
Since March last year, two governments have been vying for power in the war-torn North African country. One is headed by Fathi Bashagha and was sworn in by the House of Representatives in Tobruk in eastern Libya. The other is the UN-recognised Government of National Unity, headed by Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, which refuses to cede power unless it is to a government sworn in by a newly elected parliament.
To resolve this issue, the UN launched an initiative that led to the formation of a joint committee of the House of Representatives and the High Council of State to agree on a constitutional basis for elections in Libya.
However, according to MEMO, the committee’s work has been disrupted by differences over the conditions to be met by candidates for the presidential elections. The High Council of State insists on barring military and dual nationals from running, while the House of Representatives is willing to allow it. The presidential hopeful, General Jalifa Haftar, is an army officer who also holds dual Libyan and US citizenship.
