CAIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th October, 2021) The speaker of the eastern-based parliament of Libya, Aguila Saleh, said on Thursday that the parliamentary and presidential elections will be held as planned, on December 24.
On Tuesday, the Libyan parliament decided to reschedule the country's legislative elections to 30 days after the results of the presidential election are confirmed, as per a new law.
"Counselor Aguila Saleh and members of the National Unionist party confirmed at the meeting that the presidential and parliamentary elections will take place on December 24," the parliament stated.
Commenting on the October 5 law and possible postponement of the parliamentary elections, US State Department spokesman Ned price called on the Libyan leadership to use "creative compromises" to set the date.
"There is an urgent need for Libyan leaders to come up with creative compromises on an electoral framework," Price told a briefing.
The civil war between rival Libyan political factions lasted for almost a decade until they managed to negotiate a ceasefire under the auspices of the United Nations in Geneva last October. In early February, the Swiss-hosted round of intra-Libyan talks led to the formation of the Government of National Unity, which is supposed to be in charge until the general election.
The decision on the date for the general election was one of the major outcomes of the UN-facilitated Libyan political dialogue, held in February.
