Legal and institutional preparations required for holding elections in Libya were among the main topics discussed by Abdulhamid Dbeibeh and Jeremy Brent in Tripoli.
Libya’s Prime Minister Dbeibeh and Brent, the US State Department’s senior policy adviser for Libya affairs, discussed political developments in Libya and the 4+4 Committee’s agreement. They also addressed the importance of building on completed Libyan reconciliation efforts and the support that the United Nations Support Mission in Libya would provide to the process.
The electoral framework and the commission’s structure
The meeting covered efforts to establish the conditions necessary for holding elections. Steps concerning the 4+4 Committee’s preparation of the legal framework for the elections and the restructuring of the High National Election Commission were also discussed.
The committee consists of four members representing the Government of National Unity and four members representing forces led by the leadership in eastern Libya. On August 30, it signed an agreement at the United Nations mission headquarters in Tripoli on restructuring the election commission and amending the electoral framework.
The electoral framework refers to the body of laws regulating and administering the election process.
Fiscal unity and oil production
The agreement on unified development spending was also among the economic issues discussed at the meeting. The parties assessed that compliance with all of the agreement’s provisions and elements would establish a common approach to development spending, strengthen fiscal discipline and transparency, support the fair distribution of resources and preserve fiscal and economic stability.
The situation in Libya’s oil sector and support to be provided to the National Oil Corporation were also discussed. The topics included enabling the corporation to maintain production stability and manage the sector on professional and transparent foundations.
Items in the 2026 budget
Representatives of Libya’s House of Representatives and the High State Council signed an agreement on the “Unified Development Program” on November 18, 2025, to unify the country’s development process and reduce parallel spending.
Representatives of the two councils also signed an annex to the agreement on April 11, providing for the unification of public spending and the adoption of financial statements. This agreement was recorded as the first similar accord in the country in more than 13 years.
Libya’s unified budget for 2026 was stated to be approximately 167.36 billion Libyan dinars, or more than $26 billion. The budget allocated 73.36 billion dinars for salaries, 44 billion dinars for subsidies, 10 billion dinars for operating expenses and approximately 40 billion dinars for development projects.
Libya’s two-government structure
Libya has two governments. The Tripoli-based Government of National Unity governs the west of the country. The other government, appointed by the House of Representatives in early 2022 and based in Benghazi, governs the east and most of the south.
Libyans hope that the long-awaited elections will bring an end to the transitional periods and political and armed conflicts that have continued since the end of Muammar Gaddafi’s rule from 1969 to 2011.
