Head of Libya’s Presidential Council reaffirms support for any consensus that brings the country closer to elections
Tunis, Sept 6 (KUNA) -- Libyan Presidential Council Chairman Mohamed al-Menfi affirmed on Sunday that the Council supports any consensus that brings the country closer to holding elections and ends the transitional phase in Libya.
The Presidential Council stated in a press release that this position was expressed during al-Menfi’s reception of a number of ambassadors and representatives of countries accredited to Libya, including envoys and representatives from Qatar, Italy, Russia, Algeria, France, Britain, India, China, Somalia, Egypt, Tunisia, Pakistan, Greece, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The meeting discussed the latest developments in Libya’s political, economic, and security situations, as well as efforts aimed at achieving a comprehensive political settlement that ends transitional phases and leads to presidential and parliamentary elections on sound legal and constitutional grounds, without exclusion or marginalization.
Al-Menfi reaffirmed the Presidential Council’s support for any genuine national consensus that brings the country closer to elections and shortens transitional phases, and its readiness to back any agreement that completes its legal and national pathways and safeguards the electoral process and its institutions, away from any arrangements that would reproduce or extend transitional phases.
The Council Chairman stressed that the existence of established electoral institutions enables progress in election preparations in parallel with addressing outstanding issues of disagreement, rather than holding them hostage to the settlement of all files. He emphasized the necessity of respecting state sovereignty, its institutions, and their competencies, and that access to public office should not be achieved through the imposition of facts on the ground or the leveraging of political and financial influence.
He also affirmed that restoring trust in the political process requires confronting corruption, smuggling of state resources, organized crime, and impunity, and that political settlement and the rule of law are two paths that should not come at the expense of one another.
Al-Menfi called on international partners to support a Libyan-led process that, within clear and actionable timelines, leads to free and fair elections. He stressed that legitimacy stems from the Libyan people, affirming that polling stations are the means to end transitional phases and build institutions whose legitimacy derives from their will. (End) S.B.M. / N.S.A.
