No deal with end of UN mediation in Libya
Rival sides in Libya fail to reach a deal amid the UN-led mediation.
The presidential and parliamentary elections in Libya, which were originally set for December 2021, were supposed to be the result of the UN-sponsored peace process after the last round of violence shook the country from 2019 to 2020, but the vote never took place because of deep disagreements between factions.
However, rival sides in the conflict in Libya concluded their latest round of talks on Monday without reaching a deal on the rules of the elections, according to the UN Secretary General's Special Advisor.
Representatives of the Tripoli-based High Council of State and the parliament based in eastern Libya began meeting in Cairo more than a week ago.
"The third and final round of negotiations between the Joint House of Representatives and High Council of State Committee on the Libyan Constitutional Track drew to a close in the early morning of 20 June," said Stephanie Williams, the UN's top official on Libya.
Williams further said in a statement that the differences persist and added that the sides have "achieved a great deal of consensus on the contentious articles in the Libyan Draft Constitution" and thanked them for their "efforts to resolve their differences on a number of complex issues," urging them to meet within 10 days.
My statement following the close of the third and final round of consultations of the UN-Facilitated HoR/HCS Joint Committee to Determine the Libyan Constitutional Framework for Elections: https://t.co/O1GwgosEOW pic.twitter.com/b7ByaoSJGu
— Stephanie Turco Williams (@SASGonLibya) June 20, 2022
Around 2.8 million Libyans of the country's 7 million people have registered to vote. But the political standoff has deepened since March.