Libya's state council proposes postponing elections

TRIPOLI, Libya

Libya's High Council of State proposed on Wednesday postponing the presidential elections until February.

"All the current indications confirm that the continuation of the presidential elections in the absence of any constitutional or legal controls organizing the management of the stage … will blow away the entire political process, and this is what its indications are starting to show," Second Vice President of the Council, Omar Abu Shah, said at a news conference in Tripoli.

He announced an "initiative to get out of this blockage and avoid slipping into uncertainty."

Libya’s presidential and parliamentary elections are set for Dec. 24 under a UN-sponsored agreement reached by Libyan political rivals during meetings in Tunisia in November 2020.

Libyans hope that the upcoming elections will contribute to ending an armed conflict that has plagued the oil-rich country for years.