MOSCOW, January 19. /TASS/. Stephanie Williams, Special Adviser of the United Nations Secretary-General on Libya, has praised the significance of the current Libyan government and its efforts to provide financial support to municipalities.
"The government came in, this approved by the parliament, with a vote of over 130 members of parliament, so it did receive the overwhelming approval of the parliament. It was the first unity government in Libya since 2014. Its formation led to the dissolution of the parallel government, and it certainly has made efforts I think particularly in the area of extending financial support to the many municipalities," she said in an interview with TASS.
Williams focused attention on the fact that Libya as a large country, which is "three times the size of France," has very small population, "so sometimes it’s hard to get assistance and services out to the municipalities."
"Of course, it’s up to the parliament to evaluate the performance of the government. In the United Nations, we have a support mechanism under our mandate, which is to support the UN recognized government. And that is the government of national unity," she went on to say.
"We also have many UN agencies that are on the ground providing assistance to the Libyan people. So that it’s just something that we do every single day," she added.
The diplomat mentioned the COVID pandemic, which also exacerbated the country’s predicament, along with a range of other negative factors.
"Of course, you have the crisis of migration, you have the crisis of smuggling of fuel and weapons. This all goes to the question of need in support of institution building in Libya," she concluded.
The decision to hold the presidential and parliamentary elections on December 24, 2021 became one of the main results of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum held in Switzerland early last year, when the prime minister and the Presidential Council, who were tasked with preparing for the elections from the very beginning, were named. Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah’s government was supposed to step down on the same day. However, the cabinet continued its work after the elections had been put off. Moreover, the UK, Germany, Italy, the US and France called on the Dbeibah government in a joint statement to remain in power until the elections. The Libyan parliament viewed it as an unfriendly step and interference in the country’s domestic policy.
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 a month later, on January 24, 2022, proceeding from the fact that the final decision should be made by the lawmakers. However, the parliament disagreed with the Election Commission’s initiative to delay the polls by only one month "for security reasons." They have not yet come up with a new date for the elections.