UN tries to bring Libyan parties together to hold future elections: envoy

TRIPOLI, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya, Ghassan Salamae, on Tuesday said that the Mission is trying to bring the Libyan House of Representatives and the Higher Council of State closer in order to hold future elections in the country.

Salame, also the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, made his remarks during a meeting with representatives of national associations, civil society and youth organizations of the Libyan city of Misurata, some 200 km east the capital Tripoli.

"Despite its limited resources, the UN Mission works on many tracks simultaneously: We try to bring the House of Representatives and the High Council of State closer as much as possible," Salame said during the meeting.

"UN Action Plan foresees Libyan parties agreeing on government to govern until the elections and address worsening economic, humanitarian conditions in Libya. If no agreement reached on executive power, we will be going for elections in 2018," Salame added.

Salame proposed an action plan for Libya in September that includes amendment of the current UN-sponsored political agreement, holding a UN-sponsored national conference for all of Libya's political factions, adopting a constitution, and finally election of a president and a parliament.

Representatives of Libya's eastern-based House of Representatives and the Tripoli-based Higher Council of State have recently held UN-sponsored negotiation meetings in Tunisia to amend the agreement.

The House of Representatives last week approved a UN-proposed amendment. However, the rival Higher Council of State rejected the amendment, announcing possibility of holding elections within six months to appoint a government of technocrats.

Salame explained that the UN is mainly concerned with ensuring future fair and transparent elections mechanism that "doesn't further impact the unity of Libya."

"We work on other matters of equal importance, on many local reconciliation and inclusive national reconciliation to solidify the idea of the nation, hence the signification of the alMultaqa_alWatani (national conference), which won't be held before preparatory work is completed to ensure its success," Salame revealed.

Libya has been struggling to make a democratic transition ever since the uprising of 2011 that toppled former leader Gaddafi's regime. The country is plagued with political division and unrest. Enditem