New Step Paves the Way for Libya Elections -The Exclusion of Conditions for Running for Presidency

After waiting and stumbling and political deadlock, the Speaker of the Libyan parliament announces a breakthrough on the constitutional basis on which to hold elections that will mark the end of the crisis.

A breakthrough Observers hope will break the rock faced by the discussions between the Libyan political parties on the conditions of running in the presidential elections.

The Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives, Counselor Aguila Saleh, announced that he reached an agreement with the President of the High Council of State, Khalid al-Mishri, to exclude from the constitutional base leading up to the elections the conditions for running for the presidency.

Saleh made the announcement while presiding over a formal session of parliament in the eastern city of Benghazi.

“I have met more than once with Prime Minister Khalid al-Mishri and his two deputies,” Saleh said. “We found a convergence of views and an understanding of the intent of understanding with the House of Representatives to get the country out of the crisis.”

“Finally, we reached an agreement with Mr. Khaled that the conditions for running for the presidency will be excluded from the constitution and that this issue will be left to the next legislative body,” he added.

He continued: “The exclusion clause concerning the candidate being Libyan and of Libyan parents is excluded.”

Disagreement

The conditions for running in Libya’s presidential elections were the focus of a dispute that stalled the issuance of a constitutional basis for the elections, during the negotiations of the joint committee comprised of the House of Representatives and the State, which was formed by the United Nations.

After the Joint Commission failed to approve the constitutional basis, the decree was submitted to the Speakers of the Houses of Representatives and the State, Counselor Aguila Saleh and Khalid al-Mishri, by bringing them together in a bilateral meeting in Geneva, Turkey and, more recently, in Cairo, Egypt.

The controversial issue is the right of candidates for the military during the upcoming elections, as well as the right of candidates of dual citizens to run in the presidential elections.

In previous negotiations, Aguila Saleh insisted on the need to allow all Libyans to run in accordance with the principle of equal opportunity, while the buyer refused.