MOSCOW, January 17. /TASS/. Russian presidential envoy for the Middle East and African countries and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov met with Libyan Ambassador to Moscow Muhammad al-Maghrawi and stressed the importance of a nationwide consensus in Libya, the Russian foreign ministry said on Monday.
"The sides exchanged views on the development of the situation in and around Libya," it said. "The Russian side stressed the importance of a nationwide consensus in Libya on the key provisions of the national agenda, with due account of the interests of all political forces and social groups in the country with a purpose of ensuring Libya’s unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity."
The meeting was requested by the Libyan side.
On December 22, 2021, Libya’s Election Commission officially announced that the December 24 presidential and parliamentary elections were postponed, recommending the parliament to hold the first round of the presidential election in one month, on January 24, 2022, citing flaws in legislation as the cause of postponement. The commission replied that the final decision on the matter is to be made by lawmakers. However, the parliament disagreed with the proposed one-month delay "for security reasons," and the new date of the polls remains unknown to date.
The decision to hold the elections on December 24 became one of the main results of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum held in Switzerland at the beginning of the year with the participation of the country’s prominent representatives. A new government and the Presidential Council were created in anticipation of the elections, however, a week prior to the scheduled date it became clear that the elections would not be held.