Libyan premier to run for presidency: Source

By Ali Semerci

TRIPOLI (AA) – Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh will reportedly run for the presidency in elections scheduled for Dec. 24.

“Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh is going to be a candidate for the coming presidential elections,” said a source close to the premier who asked to remain anonymous.

Despite ongoing disagreements between official institutions on the electoral law in Libya, the country's Independent High Electoral Commission said in a statement that candidates can submit their applications for presidential and parliamentary polls starting Monday.

- Election confusion in Libya

With the clock ticking for polls, the House of Representatives and another legislative body, the High Council of State, have yet to reach a consensus law that would set the legal infrastructure for presidential and parliamentary elections.

Akile Saleh, the speaker of the House of Representatives based in Tobruk, who is also a political ally of renegade Libyan General Khalifa Haftar, announced unilaterally that he had enacted a law on presidential elections on Sept. 8.

But the High Council of State rejected the law, which had paved the way for Haftar to run in the polls. Haftar’s dual citizenship and military role stood as obstacles against the criteria for the candidacy.

The House of Representatives announced with another unilaterally enacted law on Oct. 4 that parliamentary elections would be held one month after presidential elections.

During UN-sponsored Political Dialogue Forum meetings in November 2020, however, it was decided that both elections would be held on Dec. 24.

*Writing by Ali Murat Alhas