The Committee on Party Affairs of the Libyan Ministry of Justice announced that it approved eight parties for political work while rejecting five others for not reaching all conditions, according to Mohamed Bettamer who is a member of the committee and head of the civil affairs department.
The parties receiving the approval include both recently made blocs and old parties from both inside and outside the parliament.
The Libyan Committee on Party Affairs has been granting permits to parties to carry out political work since 1 June.
Despite these small positive steps overall progress in preparation for the December elections remains slow. The main areas yet to be addressed include the nature and the sequence of the elections. As of today, the parliament has not approved any constitutional amendments or the electoral law. The technical details are important to avoid a delay in the elections which many Libyans are not willing to accept.
The transitional government has an enormous task of shaping the country’s future. Solidifying an institutional structure is key before the election date, as stated by the Institute for Security Studies.
On the security level, there is still debate over who should command the armed forces in the post-transition period. The UN plan mandates that the three members of the presidential council lead the armed forces, but a new commander will be needed once a government is formed.
As for foreign forces, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after talks in Moscow with his Libyan counterpart Najla Mangoush that the Libyan leadership “is forming a consultative mechanism … to formulate the concrete parametres” under which the foreign forces will leave, according to the Arab Weekly. The exit of foreign forces is likely to be coordinated and in stages.
Turkey continues to insist on keeping its forces in Libya and refuses to view them as foreign troops that need to be withdrawn in line with the country’s ceasefire agreement.
source: commonspace.eu with the Asharq Al-Awsat (London), The Arab Weekly (London), Institute for Security Studies (Pretoria) and Youm7 (Cairo).
photo: Mohamed Bettamer, head of the civil affairs department and member of the Libyan Committee on Party Affairs (left) with Libyan prime minister, Abdelhamid Dbeibah (right); Twitter: @Bettamermohamed.
