Libya’s foreign minister says December polls could be delayed - Al Jazeera

Libya’s foreign minister is refusing to exclude the possibility that general elections set for December may be postponed if Parliament continues to delay the ratification of an electoral law.

The development on Tuesday comes a day after UN envoy to Libya, Jan Kubis, said time was running short for Libyans to finalise a legal framework for elections to be held on time.

Early August talks in Geneva had exposed deep divisions over when to hold elections, what elections to hold, and on what constitutional grounds.

“As a government, we have put in place everything required to move towards elections, providing financial, logistical and material support to the elections commission,” Foreign Minister Najla al-Mangoush told a news conference in the Algerian capital Algiers after meeting with Algerian officials.

“I cannot answer whether the elections will be postponed or not, but we are trying to ensure they will be held on the scheduled date” of December 24.

But “we are still waiting to see if Parliament will approve the electoral law… This could block or postpone the election,” she added.

The minister also said there would be a “consultative meeting” of neighbouring countries and “friendly states” in late September or early October, with the security of the polls high on the agenda.