A new political test for the High Council of State
LIBYA – Hanin Bushosha, a member of the Structured Dialogue on national reconciliation, said that the High Council of State’s continued refusal to adopt the 4+4 committee’s agreement places the council, in her view, before a real test of its political and historical responsibility.
A possible shift to an alternative plan
Bushosha said, in a television appearance on Libya Al-Hadath which Al-Marsad followed, that the political process may have to move toward an alternative plan and look for a broader dialogue mechanism that goes beyond the ability of current institutions to obstruct a settlement.
The end of the deadline, and a test of transitional institutions
She added that the end of the timeframe set by the UN mission should not be read only as the passing of an understanding between the House of Representatives and the High Council of State, but as a test of whether the existing transitional institutions can produce solutions that can be implemented.
4+4 moved the debate onto the detailed files
She noted that the 4+4 process was, in her view, a pivotal step that moved the discussions from generalities to detailed files, foremost among them reconstituting the board of the High National Elections Commission, addressing the constitutional and legal problems, and setting a time limit for the electoral process after months of negotiation between influential parties in the political and security arenas.
House endorsement, and consensus still incomplete
Bushosha said the House of Representatives’ endorsement of the agreement marks an important shift into the implementation phase, while the failure to complete institutional consensus on the High Council of State’s side shows, in her words, that the core obstacle blocking a political solution has not yet been addressed.
Waiting for Tetteh’s briefing in mid-October
She called for waiting for the briefing by UN envoy Hanna Tetteh, scheduled for mid-October, which coincides with the end of the mission’s mandate later that month.
Article 64 and the option of new transitional arrangements
She stressed that it falls to the UN mission to present practical plans to overcome the deadlock and turn the agreement into a tangible reality, noting that the Advisory Committee’s fourth option, which is Article 64 of the Political Agreement, sets out a mechanism for moving to new transitional arrangements, a constitutional basis and elections sponsored by the mission through a broader dialogue, without retreating from the roadmap that has been drawn up.
