Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, UNSMIL announces the results of the voting for the Presidential Council authority
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Alaina
- . February 3, 2021
- . Update: February 6, 2021 11:35 pm
On Tuesday evening, on the second day of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) announced the vote result for the Presidential Council authority. The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General (SRSG) Stephanie Williams convened the LPDF last round to select a temporary unified executive able to take the North African country to national elections programmed for 24 December 2021. Following the candidates and their programs’ presentation, the 75 members of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum cast their votes.
According to UNSMIL, the voting took place in a free and transparent manner, following the conclusion of the interactive sessions with the candidates for the Presidency Council, all of which was live-streamed for the benefit of the Libyan public. The vote was conducted per electoral college, one for the Eastern region (Cyrenaica), one for the West (Tripolitania), and one for the South (Fezzan), following the selection mechanism for the temporary executive authority adopted by the LPDF on 19 January 2021. The LPDF Certification Committee observed the vote-counting process, conducted by UNSMIL electoral expert.
The 23 representatives of the eastern region were able to choose from 8 names of candidates. Current Speaker of Parliament Aguila Saleh picked up nine votes, followed by MP Al-Sharif al Wafi with six votes, and Mohamed Mifi with five. The 14 members of the LPDF for the south voted six for Abdul Majeed Ghaith Saif al Nasser, five for Omar Abdul Rahman Abu Shrida, two for Moussa Kouni, while Ali Abu Al-Hijab picked up only one preference. The 37 representatives of Tripolitania were divided among 11 candidates, of which the current President Khalid al-Meshri collected the most votes (8) followed by Muhammad al-Hafi with 5 votes and Defense Minister Salah El-Din Namroush with 4.
Read more : Libya, UNSMIL convenes the LPDF in Switzerland for the vote of the new executive
Williams announced live on the UN Tv channel that no one of the candidates reached the 70% threshold to pass. “The selection mechanism outlined that a candidate must receive 70% of the vote within his electoral college in order to be successful, and as none of the candidates reached this threshold in today’s vote, the process moves now into the second stage of list forming”. UNSMIL explained, publishing the preliminary results. Acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya Stephanie Williams praised the serious engagement by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum members in the voting process, noting their universal agreement to accept the results of the vote.
Today the prime minister candidates will present their political programs before proceeding with the vote again. The list mechanism provides that candidates who have formed better alliances will be able to receive more preferences. The president of the House of Representatives, Aguila Saleh, arrived in Cairo, while several prime minister candidates are meeting in Tunis to reach agreements that can facilitate their appointment. Among the prime minister candidates given as favourites are the current interior minister, Fathi Bashagha; the Libyan Democratic Institute founder, Moin El-Kikhia, and the current Vice President of the GNA Council, Ahmed Maiteeq, who recently compromised with Khalifa Haftar’s self-proclaimed Libyan army.
