Libyans hopeful about first ever Presidential election
Libyans are looking forward to their first ever Presidential election with much hope, the Charge d’ Affaires of the Embassy of the State of Libya in Accra, Mohamed M. O. Melad, has stated.
He said the first ever presidential election on December 24, this year, since Libya’s independence in 1951, made it very historic and added that Libya was looking forward to having peaceful polls.
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Interaction with editor
In an interaction with the Editor of the Daily Graphic, Mr Kobby Asmah, in Accra yesterday, the Ambassador said on February 5, 2021, Abdul Dbeibah, the founder of the Libya al-Mostakbal movement, was elected as the Libyan Transitional Prime Minister by Libyan delegates at UN-facilitated talks outside the Swiss city of Geneva in an election which was broadcast live by the United Nations.
He said, thereafter, Libya’s Prime Minister-designate, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, also named a transitional government which had all the political groupings on board and they were tasked with unifying the country and leading it to peaceful election Foreign News in December.
The Ambassador expressed the hope that the outcome of the election would be satisfactory to all interested parties.
Meeting in Berlin
He recalled the meeting this week where global leaders, with interest in peaceful transition in Libya, met in Berlin, Germany to seek lasting peace in Libya by ensuring that the country stayed firmly on the path towards its general election on December 24.
Representatives of Libya’s interim government joined US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, as well as the foreign ministers of France and Egypt at the United Nations-sponsored talks in Berlin. “It is crucial that Libya holds a national election in December as the only way to ensure peace and stability in the country’’, Blinken said.
Sovereign state
“We share the goal of a sovereign, stable, unified and secure Libya, free from foreign interference,” he said. “For this to happen, national elections need to go forward in December. That means urgent agreement is needed on constitutional and legal issues”,Blinken said.
Ambassador Melad explained that the elections would cover all the regions in Libya and added that currently parliamentary seats were nearly 182 but he expressed the hope that it would be increased to 200 seats.
According to him, the rebuilding of Libya was progressing steadily and basic needs, such as water and electricity, have been provided with vigorous construction activities taking place.
Bilateral relations
On bilateral relations with Ghana, he said the focus would still be on agriculture and construction and expressed the hope that the relationship between Libya and Ghana would be deepened further when the transitional arrangements were completed.
For his part, Mr Asmah impressed upon the ambassador to help impress on Libyan’s to cover events happening in Libya from their own perspective.
“It is important that the Libyan people themselves will report their own stories rather than allowing other foreign media to do so”, he said.
He also said the Daily Graphic would seek quick responses from the embassy to events or developments happening in Libya.
Upcoming elections
Mr Asmah said the upcoming election was very important not only to the Libyan people but the whole global economy,.
He said it would, therefore, be appropriate that the right information was gathered and disseminated on the elections for a successful outcome.
On the deepening of bilateral ties, he expressed concern about reports of ill treatment of Ghanaians domiciled in Libya and expressed the hope that, if found to be true, measures would be taken to address the worrying concern.
