Vice President Kamala Harris and other world leaders are gathering in Paris on Friday to make a diplomatic push in support of coming elections in Libya that could make or break the peace process in a country that has been torn apart by war and political crisis for a decade.
Ms. Harris, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and other European and Middle Eastern leaders are attending the gathering. France wants the election to be held as scheduled on Dec. 24 in hopes that it will provide a definitive solution to Libya’s political crises since the 2011 ouster and death of dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
The conference comes as Western officials fear that a dispute among rival Libyan factions over the election’s timing, legal basis, and rules threatens to unravel a United Nations-brokered cease-fire that ended a 14-month war last year. Time is running out to organize polling, distribute ballots, register candidates and allow time for campaigning.
Some Libyan officials and observers are calling for the vote to be delayed, arguing that a hastily organized election raises the risk of a disputed outcome that could plunge Libya back into conflict.
“If elections take place on the 24th and a controversial candidate wins, then that is the end of the democratic process and part of Libya will not accept the results,” said Otman Gajiji, the former head of Libya’s High National Elections Commission.
Postponing the election also holds risks. Politicians in eastern Libya, who are calling for holding the election on time, could use a postponement to break with the country’s interim unity government, thrusting the country back into a state of disunity and raising the chance of conflict, proponents of holding the vote in December say.
“Holding presidential and legislative elections is vital to stability and political reconciliation in Libya,” a French foreign ministry spokesperson said earlier in November, answering a question about postponing the election.