UN Mission in Libya determines conditions for candidacy for membership in new executive authority

CAIRO - 23 January 2020: The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) announced the commencement of the week of candidacies submission for the positions of the three-member Presidency Council and Prime Minister, closing on January 28, as part of the preparatory phase that will lead to the elections scheduled for December 24.

In a statement published on its official website, the UN mission confirmed that the process of nominating and selecting members is carried out as per the eligibility criteria adopted by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) in Tunis in mid-November.

The conditions and mechanisms for running for the executive authority come as follows:

First: Running for the Presidency Council:

Those wishing to run for membership in the Presidency Council must submit two recommendations from the members of the electoral college, to which the candidate belongs, regardless of the number of members belonging to that electoral college.

Second: Running for the position of Prime Minister

Those wishing to run for the position must submit at least two recommendations from members of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (the two recommendations may or may not come from a specific electoral college or region).

Third: General Conditions

Those wishing to run for the Unified Executive Authority must send electronic copies of the candidacy form, the CV form, and an identity document, such as a passport, to the email (lpdf.nominations@undp.org) no later than at midnight of January 28, 2021.

Forum members may not submit more than one recommendation for one candidate for the membership of the Presidency Council and one recommendation for one candidate for prime minister.

Following the end of the nomination period, UNSMIL will convene the LPDF in Switzerland for the voting process from February 1-5, 2021. UNSMIL expresses its gratitude and appreciation to the Government of Switzerland for agreeing to host the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum.

UNSMIL announced on Jan.19 that the members of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum approved the new mechanism of selecting the Executive Authority proposed by the advisory committee, explaining that it obtained 73 percent of the votes, exceeding the required minimum set by the advisory committee, which is 63 percent of the votes.

The mission clarified in a statement that after the parties agreed on the proposal for a unified executive authority selection mechanism, which the Advisory Committee of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum reached in Geneva on January 16, the United Nations Support Mission in Libya held a one-day vote, where forum members were asked to vote on the proposal. 

Seventy-two members of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum participated in the voting process, 51 of whom voted in favor of the proposed mechanism, which represents about 73 percent of the votes cast, and 19 members voted against it. Two members abstained from voting, and two others did not participate in the process.

The mission commended the members of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum, who participated in the voting process, for their commitment to the Libyan-Libyan dialogue facilitated by the United Nations.

The United Nations mission confirmed its continuous support for the constructive dialogue between the two councils, explaining that it is awaiting the results of this dialogue at the end of the sixty-day deadline per Article 4 of the Road Map, hoping that it will yield positive results that will help in moving forward to achieve stability and support the results of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum.