Regional Projects

In November 2021, there is a common appreciation of the immense number of tasks and obstacles that need to be resolved before any balloting should take place in Libya. Various concerns relate to the sequencing of elections, the organisational feasibility as well legislative hurdles. Still, given the current transitionary status, the country’s political institutions are in need to put the Libyan system on more steady grounds, which is longed for internally and supported externally.

Especially the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has been laying the basis for these elections: by paving the way with the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) which has managed to develop the current national institutions, led by the Government of National Unity (GNU).1 On the international side, the latest meeting took place in Paris on 12th November 2021 where the international community emphasised further support for the adopted road map and the aim for national elections on 24th December 2021. While the focus remains on the electoral candidates and the electoral process in general, other aspects of the agreement – including the work of the joint military committee and the unification of state institutions, remain distant reality.

A negative harbinger as well are local actors seemingly invested in withholding the elections. The chairman of the Tripoli-based High State Council (HSC), Khalid Al-Mishri, made a video statement in which he claims to boycott the participation in the upcoming elections due to the illegal basis of these laws.2 In addition, official statements were issued by the HSC, but also the High National Election Commission (HNEC) supporting steps that would involve postponing the presidential elections due lacking clarity on procedural and practical fronts.3 By late November, 98 candidates have come forward and declared their intention to run, the HNEC committee has disqualified 25 candidates for not meeting the conditions of Articles no. 10 and 11 of the presidential electoral law. However, prominent figures such as Muammar al-Qaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam, have appealed to this disqualification and gained a court order in his favour. There were also cases of appeals against candidates, like the ones made against Khalifa Haftar and Abdulhamid Dbaiba.4 In general, this political bickering exemplifies a grim legacy of a country that has been divided for six years and is still grappling with consensus politics.