Libya: Presidential Election set for Dec.24; Parliamentary polls postponed until January

Libyan lawmakers of the eastern-based Parliament have agreed on holding presidential election on Dec.24 as scheduled but decided to postpone the parliamentary elections until January without giving explanations.

The announcement was made Tuesday by spokesperson for the eastern-based parliament Abdullah Bliheg, affirming that the presidential poll was the priority.

The House of Representatives, based in the eastern city of Tobruk, has been in disagreement over electoral laws with a rival legislative body based in Tripoli.

On Tuesday, the western-based parliament rejected a law that eastern-based MPs adopted a day earlier on the legislative elections which had been initially scheduled for December at the same time as the presidential election.

The Tripoli-based chamber “rejects ongoing violations by the parliament… the latest being the promulgation of what it called the ‘electoral law of the parliament’,” said Mohammed Nasser, spokesman for the High Council of State.

The U.N.-backed political roadmap insists on holding general and presidential elections in Libya on Dec.24 to end power struggle between armed factions and violence that is rocking the country since the collapse of Muammar Gaddafi regime in 2011.