Libya’s Menfi calls for finalizing electoral laws by April

By Moataz Wanis

TRIPOLI, Libya (AA) – Chairman of Libya’s Presidency Council, Mohamed Menfi, has called for finalizing the electoral laws by the end of April.

“Achieving national and international consensus on the need to hold the electoral process before the end of the year requires the correct and transparent implementation of consensual electoral laws before the end of next April or the implementation of the legislation in force,” Menfi said on Twitter.

He also reiterated his commitment to “the governing roadmap for the stage emanating from the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, the Berlin outputs and the Security Council resolutions, to complete the preliminary phase and achieve its ultimate goal.”

Menfi met on Saturday with commander of East Libya-based forces Khalifa Haftar in the eastern city of Benghazi.

A statement by the Presidency Council said the meeting was “part of Menfi’s national consultations to complete the electoral process.”

Oil-rich Libya has remained in turmoil since 2011 when longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi was ousted after four decades in power.

The situation has worsened since last year when the Libyan parliament appointed a new government led by former Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha, but the head of the Tripoli-based government, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, said he will cede authority only to a government that comes through an "elected parliament," raising fears that Libya could slip back into a civil war.

* Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report