The son of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam, and the commander of the Libyan National Army, Khalifa Haftar, will be able to run for the presidency of Libya in the upcoming general elections. Al Hadath TV channel reported this, citing sources in the joint "6+6" committee.
"The 6+6 committee will not rule out [the possibility of] nominating Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and Khalifa Haftar in the upcoming elections," the committee, which includes members of the Supreme State Council (SSC) and the Libyan House of Representatives (parliament), indicated.
The previous day, the 6+6 committee, which meets in the Moroccan city of Bouznika, agreed on one of the most contentious issues between the parliament and the SSC: the participation of professional military personnel in the elections. According to the source, members of the military will be able to run for office and return to their professional activities if they lose.
The joint committee also set the dates for the upcoming elections: the parliamentary elections are to take place in December this year, while the presidential elections will be held in January 2024. A unified government with a six-month non-renewable mandate should be formed to organize the electoral process in the country.
In mid-May, UN SG Special Envoy to Libya and Head of the UN Support Mission in Libya Abdoulaye Bathily said that neither Saif al-Islam nor Haftar should be excluded from the list of candidates for the presidency, if they expressed a desire to run for this post at the general elections. According to him, "all parties should be involved in the electoral process, including the leaders and heads of the country's security forces."
At present, Libya has effectively two governments: the cabinet in the east, headed by Fathi Bashagha, who is supported by the parliament, and the Government of National Unity led by Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, headquartered in Tripoli. On June 22 last year, the transition period set by the UN as a result of the Geneva accords expired, by the end of which Libya should have an elected president and parliament. The elections, scheduled for December 2021, were canceled due to the lack of the necessary constitutional framework.
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Photo: hakeem.gadi/GFDL 1.2
Based on materials from TASS