Libyan Presidential Elections Candidates Reach 98
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Libya’s High National Election Commission announces the final number of candidates for the presidential elections and says the final candidates' list will be published in 12 days.
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Among the most notable hopefuls are Seif al-Islam Kadhafi, son of Moamer Kadhafi, and Khalifa Haftar.
Libya's electoral commission said Tuesday that 98 candidates, including two women, had registered to run in a presidential election scheduled for December.
"The candidate registration platform has received the papers of 98 candidates who met the conditions," the head of the electoral commission, Imad al-Sayeh, announced in a press conference in Tripoli.
Among the most notable hopefuls are Seif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of Moamer Kadhafi, and Khalifa Haftar.
Also in the running are former interior minister Fathi Bashagha and Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah of the interim, UN-brokered Government of National Unity.
Only two women have stepped forward as candidates: Laila Ben Khalifa, 46, the president and founder of the National Movement party, and Hunayda al-Mahdi, a researcher in the social sciences.
The final candidates' list will be published within 12 days, once verifications and appeals are completed, said Sayeh, a day after the deadline for submitting applications.
The commission "will pass on the papers to the prosecutor general, the department of passports and nationality and to the General Intelligence" to ensure candidates comply with the electoral law.
More than 2.8 million of Libya's seven million people are registered to vote.
The head of the electoral commission said that so far "more than 1.7 million voters have received their [voting] cards."
A political dialogue between the Libyan parties, under the auspices of the UN, in Geneva last February, led to the formation of a unified executive authority with an aim to prepare the presidential and parliamentary elections that will be held in December and January respectively.
On the other hand, Libya's High Council of State is the biggest opposer for the upcoming elections.
It has accused the Speaker of Parliament of drafting electoral laws without its consult, which opposes the stipulated political agreement that requires the participation of both authorities in drafting the laws.
