Libyan Muslims are seen through a Kingdom of Libya flag during Eidul Fitr prayers at Green Square in Tripoli, August 31, 2011. — Photo by Reuters

LONDON: A council tasked with drafting a constitution for Libya should be elected within eight months ahead of presidential and legislative polls in early 2013, a rebel leadership official said Friday.

“We have outlined a clear road plan, a transition period of about 20 months,” Guma al-Gamaty, the National Transitional Council's representative in Britain, told BBC radio.

He said the process of transition was already under way and the NTC would move properly to Tripoli within a few days.

For the first eight months, the council would lead Libya, at the end of which time a council of about 200 people should have been directly elected, Gamaty said.

“This council...will take over and oversee the drafting of a democratic constitution, that should be debated and then brought to a referendum,” he said.

Within a year of the council being put in place, final parliamentary and presidential elections should take place, he said.

“So we have eight months and a year that will take us to final elections with both parliamentary and presidential elections,” said Gamaty.

“And then hopefully by the end of about 20 months, the Libyan people will have elected the leaders they want to lead their country.”

Opinion

Editorial

Afghan strikes
Updated 26 Dec, 2024

Afghan strikes

The military option has been employed by the govt apparently to signal its unhappiness over the state of affairs with Afghanistan.
Revamping tax policy
26 Dec, 2024

Revamping tax policy

THE tax bureaucracy appears to have convinced the government that it can boost revenues simply by taking harsher...
Betraying women voters
26 Dec, 2024

Betraying women voters

THE ECP’s recent pledge to eliminate the gender gap among voters falls flat in the face of troubling revelations...
Kurram ‘roadmap’
Updated 25 Dec, 2024

Kurram ‘roadmap’

The state must provide ironclad guarantees that the local population will be protected from all forms of terrorism.
Snooping state
25 Dec, 2024

Snooping state

THE state’s attempts to pry into citizens’ internet activities continue apace. The latest in this regard is a...
A welcome first step
25 Dec, 2024

A welcome first step

THE commencement of a dialogue between the PTI and the coalition parties occupying the treasury benches in ...