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Libya

The Netherlands commits USD 1.65 million to UN project supporting elections in Libya

Tunis – His excellency, the Ambassador of the Netherlands to Libya, Mr. Eric Strating, and Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary General and Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Libya, Ms. Maria do Valle Ribeiro, signed an agreement today to support the UN electoral project in Libya: Promoting Elections for the People of Libya (PEPOL).

The signing ceremony took place today at the United Nations Support Mission in Libya’s Tunis office. The Netherlands Government committed USD 1.65 million to UNDP’s electoral project fund designed to boost the High National Elections Commission’s (HNEC) capacity to manage electoral processes that are in accordance with internationally recognized best practices and principles.

During the event, Deputy SRSG, Ms. Maria Valle Ribeiro, stated:

“Support for electoral stakeholders should go beyond electoral events. This project addresses Elections as cycles, rather than events, and aims to pave the way for ensuring credible electoral processes through building the capacity of HNEC, inclusiveness and voter education. The UN is grateful for the Netherlands’ contribution to kick start this timely project”.

For his part, H.E. Ambassador Eric Strating, emphasized:

“For elections to be free and fair, certain technical, political and security conditions have to be met. I do not think that is the case today. We want to support HNEC in preparing for transparent, inclusive and credible elections. HNEC must be ready whenever the conditions change. Only under the right circumstances will new elections contribute to stability in Libya.”

The project will be implemented by UNDP through the UNSMIL integrated electoral support team and with HNEC as the co-chair to ensure ownership and national interest in the process. It targets a large spectrum of stakeholders through training, activities and capacity building and aims to promote public participation in electoral processes, raise the electoral awareness in Libya and build HNEC institutional capacities.

The implementation of the project is expected to commence before the end of 2017.