France supports elections in Libya with 1M euros

 

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) on Tuesday revealed that France had provided 1 million euros ($1.2 million) to support Libya’s national elections.

French Ambassador to Libya Beatrice Le Fraper du Hellen signed an agreement with UNDP Resident Representative Gerardo Noto, by which France committed 1 million euros to support the UNDP’s Promoting Elections for the People of Libya project, raising the total funds from France to the project to 1,850,000 euros ($2.21 million), the UNDP said in a statement.

The statement said the project works to support the Libya High National Elections Commission (HNEC) to prepare and hold national elections.

“Amongst capacity development assistance, the UNDP works together with the HNEC on strengthening the voter registration system. Among the project’s initiatives are the procuring of 12,000 ballot boxes and the issuing of voter cards to use as one of the prerequisites in voter identification at the polling stations to ensure a transparent process,” the statement said.

Ambassador du Hellen stressed France’s full commitment to support Libyan presidential and parliamentary elections to be held later this year, calling on all actors to assist the HNEC in its mission.

The UN-sponsored Libyan Political Dialogue Forum agreed last year to hold national elections in Libya on Dec. 24, 2021.

Since the announcement of the decision to hold national elections, the UNDP has raised 2.8 million euros ($3.36 million) to enhance readiness for the elections, the statement said.