Libya’s national assembly rejects UN mission’s latest agreement

The presidency of the National Assembly has announced its follow-up to the recent agreement announced by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), as reported by Libya Eye on September 1st.

The association stressed that the already existing consensus between the centers of power cannot be a substitute for the will of the Libyan people, and does not give any party the right to decide the future of the country on its behalf, no matter how powerful it may be. 

The National Assembly criticized the recent agreement, noting that its most prominent shortcomings are due to the absence of a direct decision by the Libyan people to determine the features of the next phase, as well as keeping crisis centers as the main parties in drawing the roadmap for the future without providing guarantees of disruption being prevented. 

The statement focused on the idea that the true solution to the Libyan crisis does not start with new power-sharing agreements, but instead would require a direct return to the people through urgent parliamentary elections to elect a new parliament with a clear popular mandate. The assembly said that this path would serve as a practical way to finally reach the permanent constitution that would allow for presidential elections to be held on a stable and legal basis. 

The National Assembly called for the adoption of a concise and productive roadmap that starts with parliamentary elections, that will then lead to constitutional and presidential entitlements, all the while ensuring that the transfer of power is conducted in a peaceful manner that will prevent the will of the voters from being disrupted. 

The statement was concluded through the association placing emphasis on the fact that it is not against the efforts leading to the elections, but that it rejects that the elections should be held hostage to the consensus of the conflicting forces or a tool to reproduce the transition period, adding that “weapons may impose a temporary reality but do not create legitimacy, and that the real legitimacy is only granted by the Libyan people through the ballot box.”

Libya Eye, Maghrebi.org.