Libyans agree on plan to hold elections in 18 months, UN says
Acting UN envoy Stephanie Williams called the agreement a "breakthrough."
Representatives of war-torn Libya’s rival governments have agreed on a plan to hold national elections within 18 months in the latest sign of progress toward healing the country’s nearly decade-long rift.
At a summit that began Monday in Tunisia’s capital, 75 representatives of the Tripoli-based Government of National Accord and the Tobruk-based parliamentary government have been discussing plans to establish “free and fair, inclusive and credible” national elections at the parliamentary and presidential levels, according to acting UN envoy to Libya Stephanie Williams.
Williams announced Wednesday that the sides had agreed on a road map for the elections process, calling the achievement a “breakthrough.”
The two sides agreed to a UN-brokered cease-fire in Geneva last month, laying the groundwork for what many observers hope will be an enduring break in the country’s civil war.
