On 7 July 2012, the

National Transitional Council The National Transitional Council (NTC) was a transitional government established in the 2011 Libyan civil war. After rebel forces overthrew the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya of Muammar Gaddafi in August 2011, the NTC governed Libya for a further ...

, in power since the Libyan Civil War, supervised democratic

elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

for a 200-member

General National Congress The General National Congress or General National Council (GNC; ) was the Legislature, legislative authority of Libya for two years following the end of the First Libyan Civil War. It was elected by popular vote on 7 July 2012, and took power f ...

to replace the Council. The assembly was to choose a prime minister and organize

parliamentary In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

elections in 2013. A process to write a constitution was also to be determined. Unrest driven by armed militias, ethnic minority and radical groups undermined the process and the government for the years following the overthrowing of

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi (20 October 2011) was a Libyan military officer, revolutionary, politician and political theorist who ruled Libya from 1969 until Killing of Muammar Gaddafi, his assassination by Libyan Anti-Gaddafi ...

. While internal apathy towards democratic reforms slowed the process, external bodies such as the European Union were still pressing for the establishment of a national dialogue to build consensus for the drafting of a new constitution to take place before the end of 2014. Parliamentary elections were scheduled to be held on 25 June 2014 in a move aimed at stabilizing the country and quelling the unrest.

History

Kingdom of Libya

1952 Libyan general election General elections were held in Libya on 19 February 1952 to elect the members of the House of Representatives, the lower house of Parliament,

1956 Libyan general election General elections were held in Libya on 7 January 1956 to elect the members of the House of Representatives, the lower house of Parliament.Dieter Nohlen, Michael Krennerich & Bernhard Thibaut (1999) ''Elections in Africa: A data handbook'', p527 ...

1960 Libyan general election General elections were held in Libya on 17 January 1960 to elect the members of the House of Representatives, the lower house of Parliament.Dieter Nohlen, Michael Krennerich & Bernhard Thibaut (1999) ''Elections in Africa: A data handbook'', p527 ...

1964 Libyan general election General elections were held in Libya on 10 October 1964 to elect the members of the House of Representatives, the lower house of Parliament of the Kingdom of Libya, Parliament. 103 members were elected by universal suffrage introduced by the 1963 ...

1965 Libyan general election Early general elections were held in Libya on 8 May 1965 to elect members of the House of Representatives, the lower house of Parliament,Dieter Nohlen, Michael Krennerich & Bernhard Thibaut (1999) ''Elections in Africa: A data handbook'', p527 f ...

Libya under Gaddafi

National elections were indirect through a hierarchy of people's committees. The head of government was elected by the General People's Congress. The last such election was held in March 2010. Libya's parliament consisted of a unicameral General People's Congress. Its members were elected indirectly through a hierarchy of people's committees. Suffrage was 18 years of age; universal and technically compulsory.

Electoral bodies

According to Article 157 of the

2017 draft Libyan constitution The 2017 draft Libyan constitution is a draft of a constitution for Libya prepared by the Constitution Drafting Assembly of 60 people elected from around Libya in the 2014 Libyan Constitutional Assembly election. Status: The new draft constitut ...

, the Libyan High National Election Commission (HNEC) is responsible for organising elections of national political bodies in Libya. The

Central Commission of Municipal Council Elections Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

(CCMCE) was created in 2018 for organising municipal elections in 2018 to replace councils elected in 2014. It started holding these elections in 2019 in March and April.

2012 elections

2014 elections

Constituent Assembly

HNEC organised the

2014 Libyan Constitutional Assembly election Constitutional Assembly elections took place in Libya on 20 February 2014. Nominations for elections to the constituent assembly started on 6 October 2013; registration for candidates to the assembly was over as of 11 November 2013. The assembly w ...

of 60 representatives in February 2014.

House of Representatives

The Libyan election commission on 20 May 2014 announced elections would be held on 25 June 2014.

Future elections

Presidential and parliamentary elections in Libya were scheduled for December 24, 2021; however these were indefinitely postponed by the High National Elections Commission, due to failure to agree on the electoral rules. As of 2023, Libya had two competing governments, the

Government of National Unity A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties (or all major parties) in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other nati ...

(GNU) sited in Tripoli and the

Government of National Stability The Government of National Stability () is a rival government that controls eastern Libya. It was formed on 3 March 2022, is led by Osama Hamada and supported by the House of Representatives and the Libyan National Army. Since its inception, th ...

(GNS) in

Sirte Sirte (; , ), also spelled Sirt, Surt, Sert or Syrte, is a city in Libya. It is located south of the Gulf of Sirte, almost right in the middle between Tripoli and Benghazi. It is famously known for its battles, ethnic groups and loyal ...

, formed in March 2022, and supported by the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

(HoR). The High Council of State (HCS) is now essentially the legislative body for the GNU. In March 2023 both legislative bodies passed an amendment to the Libyan Constitution providing a broad framework for elections; however, numerous disagreements still exist about implementation. In November 2023, despite objections from members of the High Council of State and the reservations expressed by the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL), the House of Representatives ordered the official publication of election rules in the Official Gazette. The regulations were developed by the 6 + 6 Joint Committee of the HoR and the HCS.

References

CIA - The World Factbook: Libya
{{Libya topics