Tripoli, 30 November 2018 – As part of its efforts to support Libyan municipalities on their way to achieve democratic governance and towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) helped the Central Committee for Municipal Council Elections (CCMCE) to organize a forum and a workshop to review the newly regulation issued by the Presidential Council (PC) to govern the Municipal Council elections.

The regulation 1363 introduces a Party Block Vote system allowing one list to win all seats in a municipality with a simple majority.

The two-day event is framed within the CCMCE support project funded by Germany, the United Kingdom and Libyan governments.

From 28 to 29 November, presentations covered the experiences from running elected municipal councils during their first four-year mandate, including from the Association of Municipalities. The Chief Electoral Advisor of UNSMIL and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems’ (IFES) Chief of Party explained the criteria for electoral system design and the key families of electoral systems. The event marked the importance of promoting South-South cooperation with the participation of the Vice-President of the Tunisian Independent Electoral Commission, who presented the Tunisian electoral system used in recent local elections in Tunisia.

The CCMCE Chairman, Mr. Salem Ben Tahia, emphasised the importance of this stakeholder consultation to help raising awareness and exposing challenges of the newly introduced system.

Around 160 participants attended the forum on 28 November, including government representatives from the Ministry of Local Government, the House of Representatives, judges and lawyers, Municipal Council members, civil society groups, including women groups, Libya’s main language groups, representatives of the CCMCE and their sub-committees, and the former head of the High National Election Commission (HNCE).

On 29 November, at the follow-up workshop, 50 participants pulled together a set of recommendations. CCMCE will share recommendations of the forum with the government.