Could Saif al Islam Gaddafi be the new president of Libya?
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Roshan Amiri
- . November 15, 2021
- . Update: November 15, 2021 8:16 pm
Libya–Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the late dictator Muammar Gaddafi, has officially completed the run-up procedures for the Libya presidential election, the first round of which will take place on December 24, 2021. Saif Al-Islam Al-Gaddafi showed up on Sunday morning at the electoral office in Sabha, in southern Libya, accompanied by his trusted lawyer Khaled Al-Zeidi, to formalize his run for the presidency of the presidency Libya.
After a prolonged period of absence, which encouraged rumors and false news about him, the son of Muammar Gaddafi, whose name in Arabic means “the sword of Islam,” reappeared last July in an interview with the New York Times, reportedly released in Zintan, where the Libyan dolphin remained a prisoner until his release in 2016. His lawyer, Khaled al Zeidi, in an interview conducted on March 15, 2018, already explained that if “Dr. Saif al Islam Gaddafi will participate in the elections, he will win. All those following the Libyan crisis know that.” He said, stressing that Gaddafi’s candidacy had become a popular request and by critical exponents of the world of politics, who see him as the saviour. Right now, Libya dreams of peace and security, and many are confident that only Gaddafi’s son will be able to create stability at the national level and throughout the area.
Regarding the pending proceedings before the International Criminal Court, the lawyer stated that the Libyan judicial system has already tried Saif Gaddafi. Furthermore, according to the Rome Statute, no one can be judged twice for the same crime. Therefore, being recalled by the international court is inappropriate, but it is an act against Libyan sovereignty.
The behind-the-scenes efforts to bring all of Libya’s factions into one table have already involved a complex concessions process. However, it should also be remembered that the reconciliation initiative’s heart is the awareness that lasting peace is not possible without the reintegration of Gaddafi’s loyalists into the political arena. It is estimated that of the approximately 6.2 million Libyans, there are over two million Gaddafists, among those who are still exiled abroad or displaced from their homes in Libya. Recently, the Government of National Unity (GNU) and the Libyan Presidential Council have taken positive steps towards genuine national reconciliation towards the elections, intended as a “global solution” to the Libyan crisis according to the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) roadmap and related UNSC resolutions.
