TRIPOLI —
Libya's
election commission on Saturday delayed publication of a final list of
candidates for a presidential election scheduled in less than two weeks.
اضافة اعلان
It is just the latest twist in a
UN-led
effort targeting December 24 presidential polls intended to help the oil-rich
North African country move past a decade of violence.
The process has been undermined by bitter
divisions over the legal basis for the elections, their dates, and who should
be allowed to run, with a string of controversial figures stepping forward.
Publication of the final candidate list is
supposed to mark the formal start of the election campaign, but the election
commission did not give a new date for issuing the list.
Rules governing the ballot — which would be
the first time a Libyan head of state is chosen by universal suffrage — say the
commission should publish the list of candidates two weeks after final court
rulings and appeals related to candidacies.
On December 2 a Libyan court reinstated Seif
al-Islam Gaddafi, a son of slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi, as a
candidate.
A day earlier, an appeals court in Tripoli
rejected petitions against the candidacy of interim Prime Minister
Abdulhamid Dbeibah, who heads the Tripoli-based unity government established in March and
charged with leading the country to presidential and legislative elections.
Libya descended into chaos with the
NATO-backed 2011 revolt that overthrew and killed Muammar Gaddafi.
A year of relative peace followed an October
2020 ceasefire between warring eastern and western camps, but analysts have
warned that violence could easily flare again surrounding the elections.
A statement on the election commission's
website said it must still adopt a series of judicial and legal measures
"before proceeding to the publication of the definitive list of candidates
and the start of their electoral campaign.”
It added that success of the electoral
process cannot be borne solely by the elections commission "since the
results will cast a shadow over the present and future of the
country".
The commission added that it is being
careful not to limit its role to implementing the law, but ensuring that its
functions extend to "correct interpretation of the law."
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