Locations
The Local Elections Project
Introduction
With an overall goal of building the capacity of Libya’s transitional governance structures and facilitating citizens’ participation in the democratic processes, the objectives of the Local Elections (&Local Governance) Project (LEP) are:
(1) to support the Central Committee for Local Elections (CCLE) in holding peaceful and credible municipal council elections across Libya.
(2) To support elected municipal councils during their four-year-mandate, in increasing their citizens’ interest and participation in matters concerning the municipality and, as a result, increase election participation in successive elections.
(3) Fostering Libya’s decentralization process through the support to the Ministry of Local Governance and the High Council of Local Administration as well as by increasing the technical capacities of municipalities for better service delivery.
(4) To support the National Planning Council in the re-unification of Libya’s state institutions.
Objectives
The LEP aims to contribute toward Libya’s overall interim goal to undertake immediate critical actions for the implementation of local elections during the transitional period and beyond. The project focuses on achieving two important outputs:
Output 1: Support the inclusive planning and implementation of electoral operations including voter registration.
Through this output, the LEP supports the CCLE in preparing, planning and implementing its election operations for carrying out municipal council elections. This support includes providing technical advice and support on inclusive voter registration, facilitation of the procurement and deployment of sensitive and non-sensitive election materials. It also includes the allocation of provisions and support to the overall operational planning and implementation of the elections.
Output 2: Facilitate public participation before, after and in between elections.
Aware and informed voters are critical to sustaining peace and moving state formation forwards. The LEP envisions strong support to civic and voter education efforts of both the CCLE as well as other electoral stakeholders. The LEP aims to achieve this by supporting the CCLE in developing a voter education strategy and action plan for the upcoming municipal council elections. The project will also work with civil society organizations and other key stakeholders to increase their knowledge and awareness of the importance of local elections, the electoral process and their role in democratic processes. The project has a particular focus on the participation of women, youth, persons affected by disability and other vulnerable groups.
Accomplishment
Due to the successful work of the LEP, the CCMCE (today CCLE) has been able to plan and conduct municipal elections across Libya. The LEP’s support includes proving advisory and technical assistance in areas such as electoral operations, asset management, procurement, electoral technology and civic and voter education.
Since its inception and to date, the LEP has achieved its intended targets and assisted the CCLE in holding 40 municipal council elections, despite security and operational challenges. This was accomplished through the LEP’s two major outputs (support for planning and operation of election operations and support for voter and civic education) as well as the Municipal Council Support and Conflict Prevention components in the project.
The LEP’s team has supported the CCLE at both the managerial and technical levels concerning the planning and implementation of municipal council elections. This includes advising on electoral operations such as voter and candidate registration, training, logistics, field coordination and communication. Through LEP's efforts, a team of experts were recruited and integrated into the daily operations of the CCLE.
The second output focused mainly on the voter and civic education for the municipal elections. This was conducted through public awareness campaigns and activities. A team of experts were hired to support the CCLE in the outreach campaign to develop strategies for voter and civic education. In this context, a creative workshop was conducted with 11 Libyan artists for developing ideas for the outreach campaign. In addition, six civil society organizations (CSOs) were contracted to conduct grassroots public outreach initiatives regarding voter and civic education for the municipal elections. This was done in 15 of the 22 municipalities, where elections were held. The CSOs carried out several activities including media campaigns, focus group discussions and the creation of prints and advertisements. Furthermore, private companies were contracted to print campaign materials regarding raising public awareness for several municipalities. A social media campaign was conducted in all 22 municipalities where elections were held. This was aimed at boosting voter participation in the municipal elections.
On the Municipal Council Support component and supporting the elected councils, the LEP has conducted 17 workshops for 39 elected municipal councils across Libya. These workshops focused on raising the capacity of those councils on various topics regarding Local governance including, the legal framework of their duties (Law No. 59), communication and community participation. The LEP also assisted in developing the collaboration and synergies that councils had with other international and local partners regarding local governance. The LEP conducted two focus group discussions with several women activists in local governance. These discussions focused on the change to the new regulation regarding the local election law. Furthermore, the LEP team conducted a field visit to provide on-the-ground support to the municipality of Yefren, to assist them in hosting their own town hall meeting. This initiative was a pilot project that resulted in remarkable success and so will be extended to other municipalities in the near future.
On the conflict prevention component, the LEP’s Electoral Security and Conflict Prevention team (ESCP), have aided both the CCMCE and local municipalities in electoral security matters. The ESCP conducted several field visits to the Alkhoms municipality and during these visits, two high-level meetings were held with key stakeholders from the municipality. The meetings discussed the challenges that hindered the CCMCE from conducting its work on implementing municipal council elections.
Furthermore, In June 2021, the ESPC along with the board of the CCMCE attended a workshop in Istanbul. The workshop addressed the importance of having a tailored comprehensive security assessment made for each municipality.
In Q4 of 2021, the LEP have been assigned the task of assisting in the reunification of Libya’s state institutions. Due to the seven-year political split in Libya, many of the state’s institutions were also split between the Eastern and Western political factions.
The LEP has partnered with the National Planning Council (NPC), which was designated by the GNA to lead the reunification process and falls under the authority of the HoR. The NPC has requested UNDP’s technical expertise in areas such as coordination, capacity building and fact-finding research. In this regards the LEP held a three-day workshop for Libyan experts to their inputs and recommendations in reunifying the split institutions. Among the fields represented by these experts include finance, economics, health and education.
Finally, during the 4-year lifecycle of the LEP, lessons-learned workshops were held each year in different locations. This was an opportunity for the CCLE team and its international partners to reflect on all the municipal elections that had taken place and discuss strategies for the forthcoming elections.