UN releases results of public survey on Libyan elections future

According to the Libya Review on August 17th, The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) has announced the closure and results of its public opinion survey after two months.

Beginning on July 14th, the goal of the survey was to collect views of the Libyan people on how the nation should move forward towards democratic and uncorrupted national elections.

UNSMIL was founded in 2011 after the overthrow and killing of dictator Moammar Gadhafi led to the governance of Libya being split into two rival administrations, one based in Tripoli and backed by the UN, and the other based in the east and backed by nations including Russia and Egypt.

The goal of USMIL has been to facilitate an “inclusive Libyan-led and Libyan-owned political process.”

The public opinion survey received more than 22,500 responses and was mostly carried out online but included some telephone surveys for those without internet access.

Respondents were given the opportunity to give preferences on four options proposed by an Advisory Committee made up of legal, political, and constitutional experts.

Results reveal that 42% of respondents favoured the first option given, which is to hold both presidential and parliamentary elections at the same time and as soon as possible.

23% of respondents supported the fourth option, making it the second most popular. The fourth option calls for the dissolution of existing institutions in Libya, and the formation of a new dialogue forum and a 60-member constituent assembly.

The assembly would be responsible for drafting a temporary constitution and electoral laws to pave the way for national elections.

On August 11th, the head of the High National Election Commission in Libya announced that despite election preparation being finished, the delays are due to an absence of electoral laws- the fourth option proposed to the public by the Advisory Committee would address this issue.

UNSMIL will use the findings from this survey in the political roadmap to be presented during the UN Security Council briefing on August 21st.

On June 24th the UN’s Special Representative for Libya, Hannah Tetteh, announced the forthcoming political roadmap, explaining that it will aim to end transitional processes in Libya.

Libya Review/Maghrebi