FAQ

The Libyan Commission on Presidential Debates (LCPD) is composed of a number of debate and civil society organizations from across Libya. The commission was born from a belief that no single organization has the ability to organize fair, equal, and democratic presidential debates in Libya. Hence, our organizations have come together to organize the first-ever presidential debates in Libyan history. 

All LCPD members must publicly commit to principles of democratic, inclusive, and fair debates, to be fully independent from any political stakeholders, and to ultimately strengthen Libyan citizens’ knowledge of candidate positions on key issues before casting their ballots.

For the full LCPD Declaration, click here

The series of debates will take place on consecutive evenings, concluding shortly before the electoral silence ahead of the presidential elections.

Yes. Any candidate who is formally accepted by Libya’s High National Election Commission as a presidential candidate will receive an invitation to participate in the debates. 

Yes, provided there is a second round of presidential elections, run-off debates will take place as part of Libya Decides. 

Equality of opportunity is essential for free and fair election debates, and will be the most important guiding principle for the Libya Decides project. This comprises not only equal speaking time, but also meticulous attention to production details, including sound and lighting.  

This will depend on the number of candidates approved by HNEC. Any single debate will feature no more than ten presidential contenders. Should the number of accepted candidates exceed ten, the field will be divided across several debates evenly, neither exceeding more than ten candidates per single debate. For example, should there be 18 candidates, there will be two debates, each with nine candidates. As another example, should there be 48 candidates, there will be five debates, respectively featuring ten, ten, ten, nine, and nine candidates. 

The goal of Libya Decides is to provide Libyan voters with an opportunity to compare different candidates and better inform their decisions at the ballot box, while reaching the largest number of citizens possible. To keep the programs relevant and informative for citizens, it is international best practice for no more than ten candidates to appear per program. 

The debates will happen simultaneously in different parts of the country, with candidates joining remotely from wherever they are. 

Not at all. Libya Decides will be a high quality production, on par with presidential debates held around the world. 

From one of the United States’ Nixon-Kennedy debates of 1960 to Belarus’ presidential debates in 2020, several countries have organized remote candidate debates. We aim for the Libyan presidential debates to conform to the highest global standards of format and production. 

The exact rules of the debates will be determined by the Libyan Commission on Presidential Debates. They will follow international best practices of open, free, and fair candidate debates, aiming to give citizens a rare opportunity to juxtapose candidates’ positions and make a more informed choice for president.  

Potential journalists will have cultivated a record of unwavering objectivity for several years of work in the field. The Commission will publish criteria for their selection in due time. 

A single signal will be made available for all television, radio and online broadcasters to air the debate simultaneously.  

There will be no live audience, and hence no questions from a live audience. 

We will use sortition to determine these and any other questions that may favor one candidate over another. The sortition process will be held in the presence of a notary public and recorded by video. 

Given the national importance of Libya Decides, the feeds of Libya’s upcoming presidential debates will not be owned by any media outlet. Rather, a single feed will be made available freely to any TV and radio channel that wishes to broadcast the programs. 

To register your interest in becoming a Libya Decides broadcast partner, please email broadcasters@libyadecides.org

At this stage, no parliamentary election debates are planned

The Munathara Initiative is a nonprofit debate organization with activities in 15 countries of the Arabic-speaking region. Since launching in 2012, it has delivered debate workshops to more than 12,000 participants across the region, and organized some 48 televised debates, broadcast live from various locations including Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon and Yemen.The organization was awarded the prestigious Democracy Award. In 2019, Munathara organized the Tunisian presidential debates, the first ever to be held in the Arabic-speaking world.