UN backed Rome talks move to reshape Libya election body
Libya’s stalled electoral file has been pushed back into a narrower but more tactical phase after a UN sponsored 4+4 committee meeting in Rome agreed on restructuring the board of the High National Elections Commission, as reported by The Libya Observer and agencies on April 29th.
At the centre of the Rome outcome is a proposal to replace HNEC chairman Emad Al Sayeh with a judicial figure nominated by the Attorney General and appointed under the applicable legal procedures agreed by the United Nations.
The committee also agreed on a reconstituted board made up of three members representing the House of Representatives and three representing the High Council of State in an attempt to reestablish bilance in this fractured political landscape.
According to the report, participants said they wanted to break the political deadlock that has held up the electoral process for the last years, while noting that around 2.8 million Libyans are already registered to vote.
Hanna Tetteh, UN under secretary general, claimed a day earlier that the 4+4 format is meant to act as a mechanism for resolving specific obstacles, especially the electoral framework and the HNEC board, rather than replacing the wider structured dialogue.
That makes the Rome meeting less a full political settlement than a targeted attempt to remove one of the administrative and legal barriers that continue to obstruct elections.
Committee members stated that consultations would continue under UN facilitation to reach consensual and implementable electoral laws, while GNU representative Walid Al-Lafi described the Rome outcome as a positive step toward overcoming one of the main obstacles on the path to elections.
The broader implication is that Libya’s election file is still being advanced through internationally directed operation rather than a genuine and decisive political breakthrough, with Rome now serving as the latest site of that incremental diplomacy.
The Libya Observer plus agencies, maghrebi.org
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