The House of Representatives (HoR) announced on Friday its rejection to participate in the meeting proposed by the UN envoy to Libya, Abdoulaye Bathily, to bring together the Libyan parties and agree on contested issues over holding elections.
The HoR said in a statement that it monitored Bathily's statement in which he called on the HoR to appoint a representative to attend the preparatory meetings for the meeting that the United Nations Support Mission in Libya intended to organize for the major leaderships in the country.
The HoR expressed its reservations about what was stated in the UN envoy’s statement, especially the UN mission’s lack of respect for the outcomes of the HoR related to the 13th Constitutional Amendment and the decision to grant confidence to the Libyan government (parallel government), in addition to the fact that it was not invited to the meeting even though it is the legitimate government to which the HoR granted confidence after the end of the legal term of the Government of National Unity.
The HoR reaffirmed its rejection to participate in “any political dialogue or agreement that does not respect the Libyan will, the legitimate institutions elected by the Libyan people, and the executive institutions that emerged from them.”
The HoR also affirmed its rejection to repeat previous experiences, which proved unsuccessful in resolving the Libyan crisis, and said it would not accept any outcomes that result from what was previously devised by the UN mission previously.
Bathily extended invitations to key Libyan institutional stakeholders to attend a meeting in the coming period to reach a settlement on the politically contested issues pertaining to the implementation of the electoral process.
UNSMIL said Thursday in a statement that Bathily had requested the institutional stakeholders to designate representatives to participate in a preparatory meeting, adding that the designated representatives of the Presidential Council, House of Representatives, High Council of State, Government of National Unity and the General Command of the “Libyan National Army” would discuss the date, venue, and agenda of the meeting of their principals.
“They will also identify the outstanding issues that need to be resolved to enable the High National Elections Commission to commence the implementation of the electoral laws issued by the House of Representatives.” The statement said.
