Swarna Shukla-
Published on: December 3, 2021 at 14: 33 IST
The son of Libya’s long-time ruler Muammar Gaddafi has been given the go-ahead to run in the country’s upcoming presidential election, his lawyer said, a week after being disqualified for what Libyan authorities said were war crimes committed during the uprising against his father more than 10 years ago.
In disqualifying Gaddafi, Libya’s electoral commission had pointed to articles of the electoral law stipulating that candidates “must not have been sentenced for a dishonourable crime” and must present a clean criminal record.
Libya is seeking to move beyond a decade of violence that has rocked the oil-rich nation since a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed Gaddafi senior in 2011.
Gaddafi, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, had registered to run on November 14 but was among 25 candidates whose bids were rejected by the elections board last week.
The first round of voting is meant to start on December 24, though a number of divisive issues need to be resolved before then. It remains unclear whether any further legal challenges could be made to Seif al-Islam Qaddafi’s candidacy. The oil-rich county is currently governed by an interim government that was elected by Libyan delegates after U.N.-led talks in Geneva in February.
Several other high-profile presidential hopefuls have filed their candidacy documents, including Khalifa Hifter, and the country’s interim Prime Minister, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. In recent days, Local Courts have been looking into several appeals against candidates. On December 2, the country’s high election commission stated that armed men attacked four different polling stations in Azizia town and one in Tripoli. The commission said they stole or destroyed over 2000 voting cards, that eligible voters are expected to carry on the Election Day.