UN Security Council Backs Libya Election Deal — SkimNews
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- UN Security Council welcomed the 30 August agreement brokered by UNSMIL's "Smaller Convening" track, calling it "an important step" toward Libya's first national elections in more than ten years.
- The deal reconstitutes the board of Libya's High National Elections Commission to ensure all three regions are represented and amends the legal framework for parliamentary and presidential elections to be held within two years under a single, unified government.
- Hanna Tetteh, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative, said the agreement resolves two of the thorniest disputes blocking elections, including a rule that had linked the success of legislative votes to presidential ones.
- Tetteh cautioned that trust remains fragile "not just between the political actors, but among the Libyan people themselves," drawing on structured dialogue UNSMIL ran from December 2025 to June 2026 that consulted 120 Libyans from across regions and communities.
- Women made up 35 per cent of participants in that structured dialogue, and Tetteh warned that online hate speech and harassment are pushing Libyan women out of political life, calling for stronger legal protections.
- Western Libya remains the main hotspot for rival armed-group tensions, though Tetteh said local leaders there have so far shown willingness to work with UNSMIL to defuse flashpoints before they escalate.
- The council reaffirmed its "full support" for UNSMIL and Tetteh, and urged Libyan leaders to back the agreement and move toward implementation.
Why it matters: Libya's elections have been frozen for over a decade amid a split between western and eastern administrations since Gaddafi's 2011 fall; this deal resolves two long-blocking disputes within a two-year window, but Tetteh flagged fragile public trust and a still-divided security architecture as the obstacles that will decide whether the agreement actually produces a vote.
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