Libya kicks off bid to hold elections

UN envoy Ghassan Salame (R) speaks at a news conference with Emad al-Sayh, head of the High National Election Commission, in the capital Tripoli (AFP Photo/MAHMUD TURKIA)

Libya on Wednesday launched a UN-brokered effort to hold elections in the strife-torn country with a campaign to register new voters.

Imed al-Sayeh, head of the country's High National Election Commission (HNEC), announced the launch in Tripoli alongside the UN envoy Ghassan Salame.

The campaign aims to add at least one million new voters to the 1.5 million Libyans already on a 2014 electoral register, Sayeh told a news conference.

The head of the HNEC, regarded as one of Libya's few credible and independent institutions since a 2011 revolution that toppled Moamer Kadhafi, said the process was expected to run for two months.

The HNEC organised legislative elections in 2012 and 2014, Libya's first democratic polls after a 42-year ban under Kadhafi.

A UN-mediated political deal in 2015 was supposed to unite Libya, but the country remains divided between a government in Tripoli that enjoys UN support and a rival authority based in Tobruk in the east.

Salame has said he hopes to set a course to elections, beginning with the voter registration to be followed by a national conference to reach a consensus on elections.

It remains unclear whether Libya will hold presidential, legislative and local elections at the same time and no timetable has been set for the polls.

An electoral law also has to be adopted, Salame said.