Libya: Protests against Gaddafi and Haftar’s presidential candidacy

Hundreds of Libyans protested in Tripoli and Misurata against the candidacy of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and General Khalifa Haftar in the December presidential election.

In the capital, protesters held Libyan flags and Berber banners, as well as placards in Arabic and English, calling the two candidates “war criminals.” Some trampled on photos of Haftar and Muammar Gaddafi’s son, according to AFP reporters.

A similar rally of “several hundred” protesters took place in Mizurata, according to the private television channel Libya Febrayer. “Yes to the elections, no to the criminals,” shouted the crowd.

Haftar announced his candidacy on Tuesday, two days after Saad al-Islam Gaddafi, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for “crimes against humanity”.

In Tripoli, a protester shouted in English: “The blood of the martyrs was not shed in vain.”

“No to the laws of Anguilla” (Saleh, Speaker of Parliament) and “No to elections without a Constitution” were written on the posters they held.

Khaled el-Mehr, the chairman of the Supreme Council of State (HCE, a Senate body), has announced that he will boycott the election. “I will not run in the election. Neither as a voter nor as a candidate,” he said in a video posted on his Facebook page.

El Mehri is among those who reject the election law, which was ratified by Saleh in September without a vote, claiming it is written “to Haftar”.

The president of HCE also said that he wants to submit a proposal to postpone the elections until February 15, 2022.

The “road map” drawn up under the auspices of the UN earlier this year to get Libya out of the crisis predicted that the presidential and parliamentary elections would be held simultaneously on December 24. However, in October, parliament decided to hold the presidential elections on the set date and the parliamentary elections a month later.

SOURCE: AMPE