The Higher Electoral Commission in Libya on Monday announced that there is a possibility that the announcement of the preliminary lists of candidates for the House of Representatives will be postponed due to an unforeseen increase in the number of applications to run for the Libyan elections.

In a statement, the Commission said: “Given that the number of requests to run for parliament have exceeded expectations, the audit and review process will take a longer period of time than planned, which will force the Commission to briefly postpone the process of announcing the preliminary lists of candidates for parliamentary elections.”

According to the statement, the High Electoral Commission affirmed its neutrality and that it is not politically aligned with any party whose interest lies in postponing the Libyan elections processes, which 2.5 million citizens have been awaiting.

Furthermore, the Commission stressed that the success of the forthcoming elections requires the collective efforts of all in order to enforce the will of the Libyan people, who seek peace and stability.

According to the plan laid down by the United Nations, which in turn has received international support, the Libyan presidential and parliamentary elections are to be held on December 24. However, the High Electoral Commission will be postponing announcing the final list of presidential candidates until some legal issues are resolved.

The fractionalization of the military institution and higher authorities, in addition to the process of moving through transitional stages and enduring political vacuum, are all obstacles against the insistence of the international community and the UN to solve the political crisis in Libya through elections. The two non-Libyan parties have been urging the government to stick to the road map set along with the election date.

Ready for change

On Sunday, the Libyan government announced that it is ready for elections despite uncertainties. "We are ready for the elections," said Ramadan Abu Jnah, the interim head of the government since Abdulhamid Dbeibah, the interim Prime Minister-designate, publicized that he will be running for the presidency.

"The government has spared no effort to support the electoral commission (HNEC). We have the chance to make December 24 a historic day," Abu Jnah said.

After dealing with perpetual violence since 2011, Libya is attempting to transition into a new phase through the December 2021 elections. Muammar al-Gaddafi's son, Seif al-Islam, has announced he will be running for the position, getting his approval earlier this month after a blatant rejection.

"Nobody should deprive Libyans of this historic deadline and we will not let anybody do so," Abu Jnah told a press conference in Tripoli, saying that the transitional executive was "ready to hand over power to an elected government."

Possible postponement 

A few days back, the High Council of State in Libya called for postponing the December 24 presidential elections until February, amid growing differences over the rules and legal basis for voting aimed at ending the 10-year instability.