Libya: parliamentary polls to be held simultaneously with presidential election runoff

The runoff of the Dec. 24 presidential elections in Libya will take place on the same day as parliamentary elections, Emad Al-Sayeh head of the High National Elections Commission (HNEC), told media on Sunday.

Libyans are expected to head to the polls on Dec. 24 to elect a new president, a decade after the former leader Muammar Gaddafi was assassinated.

Al-Sayeh speaking at a press conference to explain the process said the second round of the presidential elections will coincide with the parliamentary elections. The polling day will be proposed by HNEC to the House of Representatives (HoR) for approval, Libya Herald notes.

The HoR last month ruled out that the parliamentary election will take place on the same day as the election for the country’s new leader.

The HNEC also indicated that the registration for candidates for both elections will start in the first half of November. So far, only three figures, namely retired field marshal Khali Haftar, Aref Nayed and Saif al Islam Gaddafi are rumored to be candidates for the presidential polls.

Haftar last month temporarily resigned for three months from his position of commander the Arab Libyan Armed Forces, in clear preparation for the December election.

Nayed, known as the UAE man, has expressed his intend to run for president and called on Libyans to support him and view his vision for what he called “the revival of Libya 2030,” another media, the Libya Observer, reports. Nayed had been Libyan envoy to the Gulf country for many years.

Saif al Islam who has been uncounted for since his release from prison in 2017, in a rare interview with the New York Times published in August said he wanted to “restore the lost unity” of Libya after a decade of chaos and talked about running for president.