Written question asked by Jo Swinson (Liberal Democrat) on Monday, 14 November 2011, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 22 November 2011. It was answered by Andrew Mitchell (Conservative) on Tuesday, 22 November 2011 on behalf of the Department for International Development.

Libya: Elections

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development whether he has received any requests from the Libyan National Transitional Council for UK support for capacity-building for the planned 2012 elections.

Answer: The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) leads for the international community on the provision of election support to the Libyan authorities and this has been one of its foremost priorities. UNSMIL has, at the request of the National Transitional Council (NTC), begun to provide expertise and support to the NTC in relation to electoral process, electoral law, the future electoral management body, voter registration and civic education.The UK is working closely with the NTC and UNSMIL to identify where we might support Libyan-led processes. We are particularly keen to support participation by women and young people and are encouraging the NTC to take this into account in the political process. The UK has not received any specific requests for support for the 2012 elections, but we will continue to work with the NTC and UNSMIL on this issue.

Secondary information