GENEVA, June 28 (Reuters) – The presidents of Libya’s two rival parliaments met in Geneva on Tuesday to try to agree on a relaunch of the electoral process under the aegis of the UN which collapsed last December.
The holding of national elections is seen as an essential step in efforts to normalize the situation in Libya after a decade of civil war.
But any progress in this direction comes up against the rivalry between the Parliament of Tripoli and that of Tobruk, in the east of the country, whose presidents were invited on Tuesday to the United Nations office in Geneva.
“It is time to make one last courageous effort to bring this historic compromise to fruition,” said UN adviser for Libya Stephanie Williams.
The inability of rival Libyan factions to agree on the organization of the elections derailed the process in December, weeks before the vote.
If the UN is optimistic about the development of a new electoral calendar, experts are much more skeptical about the ability of the government in Tripoli and the rival government now based in Sirte to agree on a sharing of power.
(Report by Emma Farge and Denis Balibouse in Geneva, with Angus McDowall in Tunis; French version Tangi Salaün, edited by Sophie Louet)
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