Bogdanov: We support comprehensive presidential and parliamentary elections in Libya with the participation of everyone
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Putin’s Special Representative for Middle East and African Affairs, Mikhail Bogdanov, confirmed that his country supports holding comprehensive national presidential and parliamentary elections in Libya, with the participation of all political forces, including representatives of the mass regime.
Bogdanov warned in an interview with the Egyptian newspaper “Youm 7” that without holding elections, “outsiders” will have an excuse to challenge the election results, noting that these elections are the way out of this unbearable situation for the Libyan people, in which they have been living for more than 13 years. One year since NATO’s illegal aggression, as he put it.
He continued, saying, “The elections will help in forming unified authorities with fair representation of the three historical regions of Cyrenaica, Tripolitania, and Fezzan. In this regard, we note the importance of advancing work on the constitutional path to coordinate the legislative framework for the electoral process between the House of Representatives and the state.”
He continued,saying ,“We would like to point out that in May and June of last year, encouraging results were achieved in Bouznika, Morocco, but unfortunately this process has now stopped, and now no one is sure that the elections will be held in the foreseeable future.”
He pointed out that the elections are considered a rather complex process, which must be dealt with carefully, by reviewing positions with all Libyan political forces, and not creating artificial time frames for their implementation, without delaying them, of course, he said.
The Russian official touched on the event about the return of the defunct monarchy, saying, “The Libyan people overthrew the monarchy during the revolution on September 1, 1969. As far as we know, the issue of reviving the monarchy in Libya has not been raised since then, even at the level of conversations and discussions between important public and political figures.” “.
Regarding Moscow’s intention to expand its military presence in Libya, Bogdanov said: “This does not correspond to reality, and in any case military cooperation agreements require decisions from the legitimate government and ratification by the country’s parliament, and as you understand, it is difficult to implement this in Libya at the present time.”
