Sief al Islam Al Gaddafi says everyone should be allowed to run in Libya polls

Published December 28th, 2022 - 11:51 GMT
Seif Al Islam
A handout picture released by the the Libyan High National Commission Facebook Page on November 14, 2021, shows Seif al-Islam Kadhafi (L), son of slain Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi, registering to run in the country's December 2021 presidential polls, in Libya's southern city of Sebha. (Photo by STRINGER / Libyan High National Electoral Comission FB Page / AFP)

ALBAWABA - Sief al Islam Al Gaddafi is back in the news. He is asking for all Libyans, and without exceptions, to be allowed to run for the next presidential elections whenever they are held in the country.

He accused the present political forces in the country of confiscating the will of millions of Libyans and aborting the electoral process that was supposed to take place 24 and 25 December, 2021: presidential polls and elections to a unified legislature. 

Sief Al Islam added that the political forces want to keep the differences in Libya ongoing so that they can remain in power. 

He first appeared on the scene last August when he declared he wants to run as a candidate for the next presidential elections and the following November he officially registered to run for the polls that were never held.

Two problems come up with his latest utterings: Is the fact he was sentenced to death in 2015 by a court in Tripoli and long before that he was wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes. 

Aside from the messy political situation in Libya compounded by the fact it has two governments, one in Tripoli and another in Tabrouk, the legal questions facing Sief Al Islam have not been cancelled. 

His latest comments also may have problems as well. The situation in Libya continues to be volatile, the two governments have separate militias who have been fighting each other intermittently and doesn't see a political solution despite the backing of the United Nations. 

The elections everybody keeps wanting to hold don't appear to be coming. As such, the second eldest brother of the past Libyan leader, Muammar Al Gaddafi will continue talking.

At the moment the African Union is trying to mediate between the different Libyan factions and Sief al Islam has been invited to attend among other interested parties their talks.