Alwaght- Son of Libya’s former leader Muammar Gaddafi, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, has registered as a presidential candidate for the country’s December election.
“Saif al-Islam al-Gaddafi submitted … his candidacy for the presidential election to the High National Electoral Commission office in the [southern] city of Sebha,” a statement by the commission said on Sunday.
Gaddafi is one of the most prominent figures expected to run for president – a list that also includes renegade eastern commander Khalifa Haftar, Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibah and parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh.
Photographs distributed on social media showed Gaddafi, with a grey beard and wearing glasses and a traditional brown robe and turban, signing documents at the registration centre in the southern town of Sebha on Sunday.
Despite the public backing of most Libyan factions and foreign powers for elections on December 24, the vote is still in doubt as rival entities squabble over the rules and schedule.
A major conference in Paris on Friday agreed to sanction those who disrupt or prevent the vote, but there is still no agreement on rules to govern who should be able to run.
The elections are envisaged as a key moment in a United Nations-backed peace process to end a decade of violent chaos that has drawn in regional powers since the 2011 NATO-backed uprising against Muammar Gaddafi.
Wrangling over the election threatens to unravel the wider peace process, which also includes efforts to unify long-divided state institutions and to pull out foreign mercenaries who remain entrenched along front lines despite a ceasefire.
