By Umar Khan.
Tripoli, 18 June:
More than 35 political entities taking part . . .[restrict]in the upcoming July 7 elections agreed on the basic code of conduct in a conference in Tripoli on Sunday. The conference was hosted by United Nations in coordination with the National Democratic Institute (NDI). The conference was attended by all the main parties including the National Front, the National Forces Alliance, the Nation Party, the Justice & Construction Party and the Ummah Party.
The parties agreed voluntarily on a 15-point code of conduct after much debate. According to the code of conduct the parties will not try to challenge the results of the elections and will not resort to violence. It also states that the parties will refrain from verbally attacking the other parties and the electoral commission during the campaign.
The director of the NDI, Carlo Binda, said that the conference was extremely successful and that the participation of parties with different backgrounds was very encouraging, “All candidates signed the code of conduct while filing their nominations but here they were involved themselves in drafting the code of conduct.” Binda also said that it was a very positive sign that many different parties agreed on the same points.
After the conference concluded, Mohammed Tumi, the spokesperson of the National Front party asked all the parties to issue a joint statement condemning the series of recent violent incidents. A joint statement was then issued by 12 of the attending political parties calling for an immediate stop to all violent activities and for a quick formation of the national army.
The conference was another step towards bringing the parties together to denounce the use of violence during the elections. The elections for the national congress, which are scheduled for 7 July will be Libya’s first in five decades. The 200 member national conference will be tasked with appointing a new government, appointing a constitutional committee to draft Libya’s permanent constitution, and overseeing the constitution’s ratification in a nationwide referendum before subsequent elections within 12 months. [/restrict]
