Exclusive: U.N. envoy wants Libya election by June after Libyans decide format

U.N. Envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame speaks during an interview with Reuters ahead of the first day of the international conference on Libya, in Palermo, Italy, November 12, 2018. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane

PALERMO, Italy (Reuters) - The U.N. envoy for Libya hopes another attempt to hold an election will take place by June after he scrapped a December plan, but said Libyans should first use a national conference in early 2019 to decide on the poll's format.

U.N. Special Envoy Ghassan Salame decided to abandon a plan to hold elections on Dec. 10 after a spike in violence in Libya, which has been gripped by conflict and paralysed by political deadlock since the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.