Libya’s parliament on Monday refused to fix a date for presidential elections meant to have taken place last week, leaving question marks over the fate of the poll.
The vote, set for Friday, was meant to be the culmination of UN-led efforts to drag Libya out of a decade of conflict since a 2011 revolt. But it was derailed by bitter arguments over divisive candidates and a disputed legal framework.
On Monday, the parliamentary committee charged with overseeing the election presented a report saying setting a new date would be risky at this stage.
It was a direct rebuff to the High National Elections Commission, which had suggested holding the vote on January 24.
The parliamentary committee is part of an assembly based in eastern Libya since 2014, reflecting the country’s deep divisions.
It recommended laying out “a new, realistic and applicable roadmap, with defined stages, rather than fixing new dates and repeating the same errors”.
The report, read to MPs by committee president Imad Al Sayeh, also suggested setting up a committee to draft a new constitution to replace the one scrapped by dictator Muammar Qaddafi in 1969.
It also called for a reshuffle of the interim government of Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, whose mandate was meant to end with Friday’s elections.
The parliament has yet to debate the proposals.
Mr Dbeibah leads a unity administration based in the capital Tripoli, in the country’s west, which had the role of leading Libya to the elections.
The vote, after a year of relative calm, was to have been the country’s first direct presidential ballot.
But after months of disputes, the vote postponed two days before it was to take place, when the committee overseeing the election said holding it on the designated date would be impossible.
The electoral commission has yet to announce the final list of presidential candidates. Its work was hobbled by court cases against the bids of several divisive figures.
Eastern strongman Khalifa Haftar, who had waged a year-long military offensive against Tripoli, Qaddafi’s son Saif Al-Islam, a symbol of the old regime also accused of war crimes, and Mr Dbeibah, who had pledged not to run, were all particularly controversial.
In its report, the parliamentary committee said the date of January 24 had been chosen on the basis of “political” considerations, and that an election then “would have the same fate” as that set for Friday.
Shortly before the session on Monday, UN envoy Stephanie Williams urged the parliament “to live up to its national responsibilities” and urgently address recommendations from HNEC “in order to push the electoral process forward”.
In a joint statement on Friday, five western nations had called for a new electoral timeline to be put in place as soon as possible.
The US, France, Britain, Germany and Italy also said the unity government should stay in place until election results are announced.
Libya’s elections postponed — in pictures
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The Bio
Favourite vegetable: “I really like the taste of the beetroot, the potatoes and the eggplant we are producing.”
Holiday destination: “I like Paris very much, it’s a city very close to my heart.”
Book: “Das Kapital, by Karl Marx. I am not a communist, but there are a lot of lessons for the capitalist system, if you let it get out of control, and humanity.”
Musician: “I like very much Fairuz, the Lebanese singer, and the other is Umm Kulthum. Fairuz is for listening to in the morning, Umm Kulthum for the night.”
Biography
Favourite Meal: Chicken Caesar salad
Hobbies: Travelling, going to the gym
Inspiration: Father, who was a captain in the UAE army
Favourite read: Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter
Favourite film: The Founder, about the establishment of McDonald's
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UAE Division 1
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Company profile
Date started: January, 2014
Founders: Mike Dawson, Varuna Singh, and Benita Rowe
Based: Dubai
Sector: Education technology
Size: Five employees
Investment: $100,000 from the ExpoLive Innovation Grant programme in 2018 and an initial $30,000 pre-seed investment from the Turn8 Accelerator in 2014. Most of the projects are government funded.
Partners/incubators: Turn8 Accelerator; In5 Innovation Centre; Expo Live Innovation Impact Grant Programme; Dubai Future Accelerators; FHI 360; VSO and Consult and Coach for a Cause (C3)
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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PULITZER PRIZE 2020 WINNERS
JOURNALISM
Public Service
Anchorage Daily News in collaboration with ProPublica
Breaking News Reporting
Staff of The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.
Investigative Reporting
Brian M. Rosenthal of The New York Times
Explanatory Reporting
Staff of The Washington Post
Local Reporting
Staff of The Baltimore Sun
National Reporting
T. Christian Miller, Megan Rose and Robert Faturechi of ProPublica
and
Dominic Gates, Steve Miletich, Mike Baker and Lewis Kamb of The Seattle Times
International Reporting
Staff of The New York Times
Feature Writing
Ben Taub of The New Yorker
Commentary
Nikole Hannah-Jones of The New York Times
Criticism
Christopher Knight of the Los Angeles Times
Editorial Writing
Jeffery Gerritt of the Palestine (Tx.) Herald-Press
Editorial Cartooning
Barry Blitt, contributor, The New Yorker
Breaking News Photography
Photography Staff of Reuters
Feature Photography
Channi Anand, Mukhtar Khan and Dar Yasin of the Associated Press
Audio Reporting
Staff of This American Life with Molly O’Toole of the Los Angeles Times and Emily Green, freelancer, Vice News for “The Out Crowd”
LETTERS AND DRAMA
Fiction
"The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead (Doubleday)
Drama
"A Strange Loop" by Michael R. Jackson
History
"Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America" by W. Caleb McDaniel (Oxford University Press)
Biography
"Sontag: Her Life and Work" by Benjamin Moser (Ecco/HarperCollins)
Poetry
"The Tradition" by Jericho Brown (Copper Canyon Press)
General Nonfiction
"The Undying: Pain, Vulnerability, Mortality, Medicine, Art, Time, Dreams, Data, Exhaustion, Cancer, and Care" by Anne Boyer (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
and
"The End of the Myth: From the Frontier to the Border Wall in the Mind of America" by Greg Grandin (Metropolitan Books)
Music
"The Central Park Five" by Anthony Davis, premiered by Long Beach Opera on June 15, 2019
Special Citation
Ida B. Wells
What sanctions would be reimposed?
Under ‘snapback’, measures imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council in six resolutions would be restored, including:
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- A targeted global asset freeze and travel ban on Iranian individuals and entities
- Authorisation for countries to inspect Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines cargoes for banned goods
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Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
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