Candidacy of Seif al-Islam al-Qaddafi for Libyan presidential election rejected

CAIRO – 24 November 2021: The Libyan High National Election Commission (HNEC) announced Wednesday declining the candidacy of 25 individuals for upcoming presidential election, including Seif al-Islam al-Qaddafi, son of Late President Muammar al-Qaddafi.

Since November 7 until Tuesday, the number of those who filed for candidacy for the presidential election scheduled for December 24 recorded 98. The HNEC has been reviewing the documents and statuses of those potential candidates to ensure they meet elections law. Today, the commission announced the final list comprising 73 candidates.

The most prominent ones are Speaker of the Libyan House of Representatives Aguila Saleh; Commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA) Field Marshall Khalifa Haftar; Former Libyan Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates and leader of "Libya Revival Coalition" Aref al-Nayed; Former Deputy Head of the Libyan Presidential Council Ahmed Maitiq; Former Minister of Interior Fathy Bashagha, and Incumbent Interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibeh.

The voting planned for next month will also include parliamentary elections in order to end the transitional phase, which has lasted for a decade following Arab Spring in 2011.