Bathily Continues to Receive Support to Reunify Libya

The UN Secretary-General's special representative for Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, is making progress in his mission to lead Libya to a successful holding of elections. Despite the forecasts against him, he has managed to make the first stages on the way to the political stabilization of the country come true.

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Germany, United Kingdom, The U.S. and Italy expressed appreciation for the work that Bathily has done and have given it their approval. The Libyan public also looks with hope to the times to come. Bathily's messages convey optimism and faith in the results: lasting stability and political inclusion. 

The five countries recalled that dialogues and negotiations should be established within the framework defined by the United Nations, as well as work decisively and effectively towards the early holding of parliamentary and presidential elections, in response to popular demands.

Among the tasks that the UN representative is summoned to, is the participation and advice of the 6+6 Committee that will define the electoral laws of the future elections. The Committee must also ensure that these elections take place and at the same time foster a climate of democratic participation, where an authentic multiparty system flourishes, under a climate of peace and national unity.

The roadmap has just been approved by the Libyan Parliament, a guiding document for the negotiation and implementation process of candidatures and other election issues. This includes the presentation of recommendations prepared by 15 parliamentary members and another 10 that must be prepared by the State Council, in order to be eligible for prime minister.

This advisory role would also extend to the mandate stage, since the candidate chosen to serve the government will have to listen to the recommendations of these parliamentarians and officials of the State Council.

It will be a strong test for the country's authorities, who have the challenge of forming a stable and lasting government that can be brought to justice in the midst of the current political crisis. The roadmap will define a unified government that will supervise the elections for 20 days after they are adopted.

The Speaker of the Libyan Parliament, Aqila Saleh, stated at a meeting of the institution in 2021 that "it was decided to approve the roadmap, noting that the House of Representatives is the only body with the original competence to give confidence to the government, and not others."

However, there are several analysts who believe that the mission is difficult to carry out successfully. One of the weak areas that the roadmap has is that it does not include political parties as direct collaborators in the process, being relegated to the UN as secondary characters.

Likewise, the intention of incorporating new political subjects, such as social leaders and community representatives, has been recognized by the political parties themselves, as an antecedent that will make the search for common ground and the achievement of political consensus more complex. Let us remember that the most recent Libyan political tradition has strongly tended to partisan centralism.

Libya is currently a socially and politically fragmented country. This year there have been several dismissals of prime ministers, one of them for obstructing the carrying out the long-awaited elections in 2021, in the case of Abdul Hamid Deibé.