CAIRO, January 16. /TASS/. First Deputy Prime Minister of Libya’s Government of National Unity (GNU) Hussein al-Qatrani will pay a visit to Russia on January 18, Libya Al Ahrar TV said on Sunday, citing the politician.
The Libyan government’s press service said earlier that al-Qatrani would visit Russia on January 16-20, but the visit was postponed. The agenda of the Libyan politician’s talks in Russia is expected to include issues of the withdrawal of foreign troops and mercenaries from Libya, as well as the situation around the postponement of the presidential and parliamentary elections. Al-Qatrani is expected to be accompanied by Oil and Gas Minister Mohamed Aoun, Health Minister Ali Al-Zanati and Minister of Planning Kamal al-Hassi.
Apart from that, according to Libya Observer, a news portal, UN special envoy for Libya Stephanie Williams will visit Moscow on January 17 at the invitation of the Russian foreign ministry.
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.