The statement represented a shift from the previous position, which was that the plan for elections would not go into effect until Libya was “liberated” — meaning that all pro-Qaddafi resistance was stamped out.
Some of the Libyan government’s Western backers had expressed concerns that this timetable could leave the country in a political limbo for an extended period, exposing it to infighting and instability.
The interim government, or National Transitional Council (NTC), has decided to “announce liberation of the whole country once Sirte is liberated,” de facto prime minister Mahmoud Jibril told a news conference in the Libyan city of Benghazi.
NTC forces are advancing toward the center of Sirte on the Mediterranean coast, but Qaddafi loyalists are still holding firm in Bani Walid, southeast of Tripoli. They could take much longer to dislodge.
“The constitutional manifesto stated that the liberation would be achieved by controlling the country’s air, sea and land outlets,” said Jibril.
“Bani Walid doesn’t have any outlets ... so it wouldn’t stop the democratic process,” he said. “Bani Walid would be dealt with as a renegade region.”
The timetable for elections is set out in a constitutional declaration issued by the NTC last month.
It states that after declaring liberation, the NTC will move its headquarters from Benghazi to Tripoli and form a transitional government within 30 days.
A 200-member national conference is to be elected within 240 days, and this will appoint a prime minister a month later who will nominate his government.
The national conference is also given deadlines to oversee the drafting of a new constitution, and the holding of elections for a parliament.
