Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was sentenced to death in absentia for war crimes in 2015. (file)
Tripoli:
Libya’s election commission said on Wednesday that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the former ruler’s son and a key candidate in December’s presidential election, was ineligible for the election, sparking turmoil over the vote.
Gaddafi was one of 25 candidates who were disqualified by the commission in a preliminary decision, pending an appeals process that would eventually be decided by the judiciary. Some 98 Libyans are registered as candidates.
Disputes over election rules, including the legal basis for the vote and who should be eligible to stand, threaten to derail an internationally backed peace process aimed at ending a decade of violent factional chaos.
The commission said Gaddafi was ineligible because he had been convicted of a crime. A Tripoli court sentenced him to death in absentia in 2015 for war crimes committed during the 2011 uprising against his late father Muammar Gaddafi.
He appeared at the trial by videolink from the city of Xintan, where he was being held by fighters who had captured him as he tried to escape from Libya after his father’s coup. He has denied wrongdoing.
Two other notable candidates, former prime minister Ali Zidane and former parliamentarian Nouri Abusahman, were also excluded.
Some of the candidates approved by the commission, including potential pioneers, have also been accused of possible violations by political rivals.
Interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dabiba vowed not to run for president as a condition of carrying out his current role, and was not required by law to contest the election three months before the vote.
Another leading candidate, Eastern Commander Khalifa Haftar, is said to have American nationality, which may also exclude him. Many in western Libya also accuse him of war crimes committed during their 2019-20 attack on Tripoli.
Haftar denied war crimes and said he was not a US citizen. Dabibah has called the election rules “flawed” issued in September by parliament speaker Aguila Saleh, who is also a candidate.
UN Libyan envoy Jan Kubis, who is stepping down, told the UN Security Council on Wednesday that the Libyan judiciary would make a final decision on the rules and whether candidates were eligible.
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