The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) failed Tuesday to achieve agreement among the participants of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) on selecting a mechanism or option to be used to elect new Presidential Council members and a Prime Minister ahead of an interim period that lasts till holding elections on December 24, 2021.
The failure came as a third of the 71 participants boycotted the voting session, thus the two UNSMIL proposals didn't get the needed votes since only 50 participants took part and 21 didn't.
"36 participants voted for the proposal of 61% with 50%+1 in each region, while 14 voted for the second proposal. 21 participants abstained from voting, citing the two proposals being designed to fit certain names; referring to House of Representatives Speaker Aqila Saleh and Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha - Head of Presidential Council and Prime Minister consecutively, a source close to the LPDF said.
The source added that the consultative committee of the LPDF will be tasked to find a solution to reach a consensus on the selection of names for the executive authority, especially that the tenure of Stephanie Williams as acting envoy had been pushed for next February until the appointment of a new envoy and Head of UNSMIL.
The source said Williams will announce the suspension of LPDF sessions till January after the failure of Tuesday session, saying UNSMIL could keep the Government of National Accord as it is to take the country to elections on December 24, 2021.
