Libyan advisory body eyes polls in six months

Tripoli, Nov 17 (IANS/AKI) Libya's High Council of State may propose holding elections within six months if the country's rival political factions fail to reach an accord, the advisory body's President Abdul Rahman al-Swehli said on Friday.

"The High Council of State is discussing the idea of going to the polls within six months under the supervision of an ad-hoc technical government," Swehli said on the sidelines of a meeting in Tripoli with the European Union's mission chief in Libya, Bettina Muscheidt.

Elections would only be held within six months should a stalemate result in ongoing negotiations between the UN-backed government of national accord and Libya's rival eastern administration in Tobruk, Swehli stressed.

"This proposal will be discussed at a session of the High Council of State next week," he said.

"It has been spawned by the need to solve the current crisis," he said.

The High Council of State wants to ensure that the ongoing political negotiations succeed "by reaching a consensus and full cooperation with Tobruk's parliament to ensure a political equilibrium for peace and stability."

UN to Libya, Ghassan Salame, told the UN Security Council on Wednesday "significant progress" had been made in negotiations between the two sides over the past two months and said he believed "consensus" was not far off.

--IANS/AKI

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