PARIS, December 24 (Reuters) – France, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States on Friday took note of the postponement of the presidential election in Libya, calling on the Libyan authorities concerned to fix without delay a final date for the vote and publish without delay the final list of candidates.
The postponement of the election, initially scheduled for Friday, weakens a process supported by the international community to get the country out of the political deadlock and runs the risk of a resumption of hostilities between the government in Tripoli and supporters of Marshal Khalifa Haftar, lower Benghazi.
In a joint statement, the spokespersons of the foreign ministers of the five powers believe “that free, fair and credible elections will enable the Libyan people to endow themselves with a representative and unified government and to strengthen independence, , the territorial integrity and national unity of Libya “.
“It is important to maintain the momentum in favor of achieving these goals,” they add.
Parliament has not set a new date for the ballot, but the electoral commission suggested in a press release that it be held on January 24, if the conditions are met.
The postponement of the presidential election, but also of the legislative elections which were to be held at the same time, had become inevitable given the inability of the protagonists to agree on the very rules of the consultation.
It has nonetheless frustrated many Libyans, who have been 2.8 million registered on the electoral lists, out of a total population estimated at 6.8 million, a sign of their desire to get the country out of the chaos in which it has been plunged for a decade.
“We waited impatiently for this day,” lamented Wahbi Tarkhan, 81, who hoped to deposit his ballot in the Benghazi ballot box. (Written by Jean-Stphane Brosse and Tangi Salan, with Ayman al-Warfali Benghazi, said by Nicolas Delame)