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Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the second son of Libyan chief Moammar Gaddafi. (Picture by Simon Denyer / The Washington Put up through Getty Photographs)
Seif al-Islam Kadhafi, son of slain Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi, registered on Sunday to run in December presidential polls seen as essential to serving to the nation flip a web page on a decade of battle.
Libya’s first ever direct presidential ballot, with a primary spherical on December 24, is the climax of a course of launched final yr by the United Nations to attract a line beneath years of violence for the reason that revolt that toppled Kadhafi in 2011.
“Seif al-Islam Kadhafi submitted … his candidacy for the presidential election to the Excessive Nationwide Electoral Fee workplace within the metropolis of Sebha,” an announcement by the fee mentioned.
It mentioned he had accomplished “all of the required authorized circumstances” and that he was additionally issued with a voter registration card for the southern Sebha district.
Seif al-Islam, long-considered his father’s erstwhile inheritor obvious, was seen registering his candidacy, wearing conventional robes and headdress.
Libya opened registration on Monday for candidates in presidential and parliamentary polls.
READ | UN warns Libya should not cut up presidential and parliamentary polls
Each are slated for December 24, however in early October parliament cut up the dates of the vote by suspending legislative elections till January.
International powers have been pushing laborious for each elections to be nonetheless held on the identical date, as agreed at UN-led talks final yr.
On Friday, world powers at a Paris summit repeated that decision, saying Libya was at a “crossroads” that will decide its future.
Hypothesis had been mounting for months over a attainable presidential bid by Seif al-Islam, who is needed by the Worldwide Legal Courtroom for crimes towards humanity allegedly dedicated in the course of the 2011 NATO-backed widespread revolt.
In July, Seif al-Islam, 49, emerged from years within the shadows and instructed The New York Occasions he was planning a political comeback.
In a uncommon interview, he mentioned he wished to “restore the misplaced unity” of Libya after a decade of chaos and didn’t exclude standing for the presidency.
“I have been away from the Libyan folks for 10 years. It’s good to come again slowly, slowly. Like a striptease. It’s good to play with their minds somewhat,” the paper quoted him as saying.
Till the interview, Seif al-Islam had not been seen or heard from since June 2014, when he appeared through video hyperlink from Zintan, within the west of the nation, throughout his trial by a Tripoli court docket.
4 years later, the Tripoli court docket sentenced him in absentia to dying for crimes dedicated in the course of the revolt.
A rival administration within the east later pardoned Seif al-Islam however the choice was by no means confirmed by authorities in Tripoli.
READ | Struggle-weary Libyans yearn for finish to every day blackouts
French President Emmanuel Macron hosted world powers in Paris on Friday for a global convention on Libya, in a bid to assist flip a brand new web page in its bloody historical past.
“We urge all Libyan stakeholders and candidates to respect their commitments in direction of holding elections on 24 December 2021 (and) to simply accept the outcomes of free, honest and inclusive elections,” the powers mentioned in an announcement after the talks.
However regardless of a yr of relative peace following a ceasefire between japanese and western camps, the method has been overshadowed by wrangling over the authorized foundation for the votes and the powers of whoever wins.
Hypothesis has additionally been mounting for months over attainable presidential bids by eastern-based navy chief Khalifa Haftar.
Former inside minister Fathi Bashagha has confirmed he’ll run, whereas others anticipated to take action embrace diplomats Aref al-Nayed and Ibrahim Dabbachi, in addition to comic Hatem al-Kour
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