Libya’s UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez Serraj on Sunday proposed holding parliamentary and presidential elections before the end of 2019 in order to end the crisis in the country.
“On the basis of my national responsibility and despite the aggression against us, I present today our political initiative to end the current crisis, and call on the Libyan people to support it,” Serraj said in a televised speech.
The initiative includes “holding a Libyan national conference, in coordination with the UN mission in Libya, that gathers all the national powers and the people’s representatives from all parts of country,” he added.
According to the prime minister, a road map for the upcoming stage and the establishment of a constitutional base to hold the elections will be agreed upon during the conference.
“The conference will also call upon the UN Security Council and the international community to support its outcomes,” Serraj added.
The initiative also included establishment of a “higher authority of national reconciliation,” Serraj said.
The army, led by Khalifa Haftar, has been leading a military campaign since early April to take over Tripoli, where the government is based.
According to the World Health Organization, the fighting so far has killed 653 and injured 3,547 others.
The army is allied with the eastern-based government, as the country is politically divided between eastern and western governments amid chaos and instability.
