Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, son of former Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi, registered on Sunday his nomination for the presidential elections at the High National Electoral Commission in the southern city of Sabha. A source close to Saif Al-Islam said in September: "He had the support of a wide spectrum of political forces, and that his electoral programme aims to achieve the ambitions of Libyan youth." Saif Al-Islam was arrested in 2011 following the widespread uprising, and was sentenced to death in 2015 by an armed group, but he released in 2017. However, he is still wanted by the International Criminal Court. Saif Al-Islam believes that his movement "Libya Tomorrow" would "restore the country's lost unity," considering that the Libyan politicians "brought nothing but misery." "It is time to go back to the past. The country is on its knees. No money and no security. There is no life here," he said. "The various governments that have ruled the country since then [2011] were nothing but a group of gunmen in suits. It is not in their interest to have a strong government, so they fear elections. They oppose the idea of a president, a state and a government with legitimacy drawn from the people." The Electoral Commission announced, on Saturday, that it has accepted the nomination of only one candidate for president in the capital city of Tripoli so far. The registration door for elections will close on 22 November. Among the most prominent potential competitors in the presidential elections: army commander Khalifa Haftar, Prime Minister Abdel Hamid Al-Dabaiba, former Foreign Minister Abdel Hadi Al-Hwaij, former ambassador to the UAE Aref Nayed, and former Minister of the Interior Fathi Pasha Agha. On the other hand, the Libyan Presidential Council stressed the importance of holding simultaneous parliamentary and presidential elections as scheduled, and "taking required measures to hold the electoral process successfully and to enhance confidence-building opportunities between all parties." In a statement on Sunday, the Presidential Council welcomed the results of the Paris Conference, which was held last Friday. The Council commended the efforts made by the international community in this regard. It stressed that the Paris Conference comes at a critical time as the Libyans are looking to chart the future of their country with a peaceful transfer of power; restore national unity; enhance sovereignty; and end fragmentation, division, and foreign interference. Moreover, the Presidential Council hailed the efforts of the High National Elections Commission to make the electoral process successful throughout the country, stressing its aspiration that the Commission would open easy-to-access polling stations for the internally displaced citizens. The Presidential Council also praised the Joint Military Committee "5 + 5" and its tireless steps to develop a comprehensive plan for the complete withdrawal of all mercenaries and foreign forces from the Libyan territory. It stressed the importance of international efforts to help secure and monitor the electoral process, assist the competent Libyan authorities, enhance their efforts in this, and provide the necessary technical and logistical support to protect it, including securing the commission's headquarters, branches, and polling and vote counting centres. The Council affirmed its adherence to achieving comprehensive social and political national reconciliation, "in a manner that achieves unifying the Libyan ranks, turning the page on the past and rebuilding confidence to enhance bonds of decent coexistence, and move towards the development that Libyans aspire to." Head of the Libyan High Council of State, Khaled Al-Mashri, said on Saturday that the elections scheduled for 24 December are likely to be postponed for three months, in order to reach "consensus on the election laws." Al-Mashri explained that the State Council "will not participate in the elections and will not obstruct them, but it has submitted appeals to the judiciary to adjudicate the decisions of the Electoral Commission." He pointed out the difficulty of resorting to the Supreme Court to challenge the election laws issued by the House of Representatives in light of the freezing of its constitutional powers, adding that the administrative judiciary "has the power to consider appeals related to the decisions of the Electoral Commission." He stressed that the State Council "will not stop the elections," but may call for boycotting it, saying: "If the turnout is zero in a number of electoral districts, this makes them legally void." Al-Mashri said that the position of the United States and other countries is that "if we can conduct elections with these laws, this is good, and if they must be amended, then there is no problem." He added that Turkey and Italy "do not support holding elections under flawed laws, and consider holding them in this way will lead to war and division."
