It is the first unknown and it is of size. Will the ballot take place? 2.83 million Libyans out of 7 million inhabitants have registered to vote, a number which speaks volumes about the lack of interest shown by the population for this first. One thing is already certain, the legislative elections planned to be held in the wake will not take place.
As for the presidential election, it carries with it the ferments of its failure. Those who denounce this election keep repeating it. It does not rest on any constitutional basis, and the High Council of State based in Tripoli speaks of “unfounded and non-consensual bases”. A logical situation since the east and the west of the country are not on the same wavelength, specifies Middle East Eye. “The East wants a strong President, while the West prefers a more powerful Parliament. This issue has yet to be resolved.”
There are many pressures, including internationally – Russia not too long ago – to postpone the ballot. The surprise resignation of UN envoy Jan Kubis only added to the confusion. An effective resignation on December 10, but in the end, the envoy ensures that he will continue his activities until the election. Observers are still wondering about his attitude, possibly linked to setting up the office in Libya.
Finally, no date has been set for a second round, while the number of candidates foreshadows a scattering of votes.
For the day of November 22 alone, more than thirty candidates declared themselves, reports the newspaper The cross. Finally, the High National Electoral Commission (HNEC) published on Wednesday November 24 a preliminary list of 73 candidates. 25 were thus excluded because they did not meet the necessary legal conditions.
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Among them, an emblematic figure, we find Saif al-Islam Kadhafi, the son of the deposed dictator. To justify its exclusion, the HNEC notably invoked articles of the electoral law stipulating that any candidate “must not have been convicted of a dishonorable crime” and must present a clean criminal record extract. Gold, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is wanted by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
Other caciques of the former regime were also excluded from the race, such as the former personal secretary of Muammar Gaddafi. But all have 12 days to appeal, which means that this list of 73 candidates has not yet been finalized. An appeal procedure which has already caused a new incident in this very agitated countryside. Armed men attacked the Sebha court just as lawyers for Saif al-Islam Gaddafi were preparing to appeal.
And if in the end the election does take place, nothing says that the result will be accepted by all …