Libya, Varvelli: “There is no going back on a vote, but setting a date is wrong”

The elections in Libya will be held, “by now it is too late not to do them”, but it was “wrong to set the date”, also because the peace process in the country is not complete. This is the opinion of Arturo Varveli, director of the European council on foreign relations, (Ecfr) on the day in which the commitment to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on 24 December was reaffirmed at the Paris conference. “I think that in any case they will be held, by now it is too late to go back – he tells Adnkronos – The consequences of not doing them would be worse, because it would trigger a series of mechanisms that would lead to a disintegration of the legitimacy” achieved so far. Having said this, Varvelli clarifies, however, that “he is not in favor of the fact that a date has been set before there was a completion of the process of pacification of the country and of a series of events that had to arrive before the elections”. The ECFR director’s reference is to the non-departure of foreign forces, on which the results are “few or nil”, and to the lack of certainty about the “mutual recognition of the vote”. In Libya, he stresses, “everything that happens is always nebulous and obscure, there is no check and balance system, holding elections in this context could involve important risks “. Among other things, Varvelli observes that most of the Libyan forces “are okay with the status quo, which guarantees position rents”, while with the vote “they risk losing slices of power, whoever wins risks taking everything, compromising that fragile balance which allowed us to no longer have an open conflict “. And in this context “France and Italy are trying to save what can be saved”. Finally, the expert talks about the possible candidacy of Prime Minister Abul Hamid Dbeibah, who would be favored. “The polls that are circulating are ridiculous because everyone commissions them themselves – he comments – It does not seem to me that he can get 50% plus one of the votes, but in general I do not see any Libyan political actor who can conquer this percentage. For this we should encourage collaboration mechanisms, but all this is very fragile, we must try to reach a result that does not compromise a progress that has been positive up to now “.