Libya’s Haftar calls for unified technocrat gov’t to organize elections

TRIPOLI, Libya

East Libya-based strongman Khalifa Haftar has called for the formation of a unified technocrat government to organize elections in the war-torn country.

In a statement, Haftar’s Libyan National Army (LNA) said it backs the recommendations of the 6+6 committee that has proposed new electoral elections.

The committee is drawn from the East Libya-based parliament and the Tripoli-based High Council of State, which acts as a senate.

“The General Command supports all honest political solutions to end the political crisis in Libya,” the statement said.

It called on the two legislative chambers “to quickly end the state of political division and form a new government to organize the elections.”

The statement called on the UN mission in Libya “to play its role in supporting consensus to hold the elections in a correct and transparent way to achieve political, social and economic stability for the state.”

On Tuesday, Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh called on the 6+6 committee to come up with consensual electoral laws to hold the long-delayed polls.

Libya has been torn by civil war and instability since the ouster of longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi in Ankara