Holding elections in Libya in December as planned is crucial for the war-torn country after six years of civil war and over a decade of turmoil, Italy's foreign minister Luigi Di Maio said on Wednesday.
"After years of instability and uncertainty, it is essential for Libya's population to finally be able to express itself in free and fair elections," Luigi Di Maio told MPs.
The country's institutions must hammer out the constitutional, legislative and organisational aspects needed for polls to go ahead on schedule," Di Maio said.
Especially important is the approval by 1 July of an electoral law which is essential for polls to take place on 24 December as planned, Di Maio underlined.
But the situation in Libya - Italy's former colony - "remains fragile" since the 23 October 2020 ceasefire agreed between the country's warring factions, Di Maio admitted.
There are "worrying signs of instability" across the country and "a persistent fragmentation of the centres of power..also at local level where latent tensions persist between the many armed groups vying for control of the territory," Di Mao said.
