Tripoli: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the late ousted Libyan ruler Muammar Gaddafi, has officially submitted his candidacy documents to contest in the December 24 presidential election, the High National Elections Commission (HNEC) announced.
“Today, Sunday, November 14, 2021, candidate Saif al-Islam Muammar Gaddafi submitted his candidacy for the presidency of the Libyan state,” Xinhua news agency quoted the commission as saying in a statement.
“Candidate Saif al-Islam Gaddafi also received his electoral card from the electoral centre (in Sebha city) in which he is registered,” said the statement.
Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was released from prison in 2017 after being detained in the western city of Zintan since the fall of his father’s regime in 2011.
He was also sentenced to death, which was later overturned.
A BBC report said that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was once the heir apparent to his father, but his support for a brutal crackdown on protesters 10 years ago tarnished his image.
Libya is expecting to hold general elections on December 24 this year, as part of a roadmap adopted by the UN-sponsored Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF).
Other candidates in the running are the warlord Khalifa Haftar, who previously led an insurgency from his eastern base against the UN-backed government in Tripoli, Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah and Parliament Speaker Aguila Saleh.