PARIS, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Rival Libyan factions on Tuesday agreed to hold "credible" presidential and parliamentary elections on Dec. 10 after they met here, according to a communique issued after the one-day conference on the Libya crisis.
In a joint statement, Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the UN-backed unity government in Tripoli, eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar and the leaders of rival parliamentary assemblies, Aguila Saleh and Khaled al-Mechri pledged "to work constructively with the UN to hold credible and peaceful elections and to respect election results."
French President Emmanuel Macron hailed "a key step for reconciliation" in Libya which had plunged into chaotic conflicts since the 2011 unrest led to the ousting of former leader Muammar Gaddafi.
"There has been a common commitment to take measures that will allow the organization of a satisfying election process either on the basis of a new Constitution or on the basis of the election law that has already been passed," Macron told reporters.
He added that Libyan rivals had to finalize the constitutional base for elections by Sept. 16.
"We have clear and precise engagements, a calendar officially approved by all the parties and supported by the international community. We have only to act with a single objective of the interest of the Libyan people," the French president said in joint press meeting with Libyan premier and UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame.
Twenty countries attending the Paris conference "showed a willingness to commit to specific points and a consensus for the need to bring together governmental, economic and security institutions," Macron added.
The oil-rich North African country has been struggling for seven years to make a democratic transition. It suffers a political division with two rival parliaments and governments battling to legitimacy.
Starting work in March 2016, Sarraj, head of Libya's U.N.-backed government in Tripoli is struggling to impose its authority after military commander Haftar, based east of Libya, refused to recognize it.
Based in the eastern town of Tobruk, Aguila Saleh, the parliament speaker opposes the UN-backed administration, defeating Khalid Al-Mishri, the newly elected head of the High Council of State.
