Head of Libya's U.N.-backed government calls for polls in March

Prime Minister of Libya's Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez Seraj attends a news conference with the U.S. ambassador to Libya Peter Bodde and Marine General Thomas Waldhauser, the top U.S. military commander overseeing troops in Africa, in Tripoli, Libya May 23, 2017. REUTERS/Hani Amara

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The head of Libya's U.N.-backed government has called for parliamentary and presidential elections in March 2018, although his proposals will likely have to compete with other Libyan and international efforts to bring an end to the country's conflict.

Fayez Seraj, prime minister of the Government of National Accord (GNA), also called for a national ceasefire and the gradual merging of rival parliamentary bodies based in Tripoli and eastern Libya in a speech released late on Saturday.