Stephanie Williams: Time is running out fast and the Libyan people are desperate for stability.

CAIRO, May 15, 2022 (LANA) - The Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Libya, Stephanie Williams, said today, Sunday, that time is running out quickly, and that the Libyan people are more eager than ever for stability.

   Williams' statement came during a speech at the opening session of the second round of the meeting of the joint committee consisting of the House of Representatives and the Supreme Council of the State concerned with the constitutional process, which was held in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

"I remind you that we are meeting here because time is running out, and the Libyan people are more eager than ever for the stability that can only come by holding national elections on the basis of a sound and consensual constitutional framework," Williams said.

She added: "As you know, the work of this committee began on April 13, and therefore we will finish its work on May 28, meaning within 45 days."

    And she continued, "In everything I do, my message is... After more than a decade of turbulence, the Libyan people are tired of war and endless competition over the executive authority and the Libyan economic resources, and they want to choose their representatives so that their long-awaited dream of stability and prosperity can come true."

She said she looked forward to working with all parties to facilitate agreement on key issues in less than a week.

And she added, "A month has passed since our last meeting, and Libya is still at the same critical juncture, with the only solution remaining to move towards comprehensive, fair, transparent and credible national elections to respect the will of the 2.8 million Libyan citizens who have registered to vote."

She stressed that all other solutions were tested from war to power-sharing arrangements to different governments, and none of them succeeded, stressing that this should be a major lesson and a reminder to us that the political rights of the Libyan people must be respected and assisted in their implementation to choose their leaders through the ballot boxes.

In this new round of talks, she and her team look forward to helping facilitate further agreement on the sensitive and difficult issues and key elements of the constitutional framework such as the political system, candidacy criteria and election timetable, so that the way forward is crystal clear by the time the curtain comes down. on the Cairo meeting.

  The UN official stated that it is the responsibility of the parties in Libya to restore the confidence of the Libyan people, who are watching this process among their main legislative institutions with many expectations and hopes for a positive, tangible and feasible result that leads to the resumption of the electoral process in the shortest possible time frame.