On 7 March, 2017, Libya's Tobruk-based House of Representatives, called for general elections to be held, following the collapse of a UN-brokered peace accord with the rival Tripoli-based government. Although an exact date for the elections has not yet been set, they are reportedly due to be held before February 2018.
Meanwhile, head of the rival GNA government which was based in Tripoli, Fayez al-Sarraj announced on 16 July 2017 that presidential and parliamentary elections would be held in March 2018. He also said that the GNA would remain as a caretaker government until after the elections.
In a surprise offensive on 3 March, the Islamist-dominated Benghazi Defense Brigades seized a number of oil ports from the Libyan National Army-backed House of Representatives. On 7 March, the ports were handed over to the Government of National Accord, prompting the House of Representatives to abandon the UN-brokered peace deal it had previously agreed to with that government, denouncing the BDB capture of the ports as "terrorist attacks". The House then called for Libya's electoral commission to make “all the necessary arrangements to prepare for presidential and parliamentary elections before February 2018".