The presidential election campaign in Libya has still not started, with 2.5 million voters expected to go to the polls in nine days on December 24.

Worse, the final and official list of candidates has still not been released by the High National Electoral Commission (HNEC), although it had to be announced no later than fifteen days before the date of the poll.

Its publication was even postponed sine die, on December 11, by the HNEC, which is under fire from critics.

A poll supposed to be the culmination of an endless political process sponsored by the UN, after the decade of chaos which had followed the fall of Colonel Gaddafi's regime in 2011, and of fratricidal struggles between two rival camps, one in the West and the other in the East.

This is not all, since a few days before the election, the electoral law is still not unanimous in the country.

A text that was not voted by Parliament, but directly ratified by its leader, Aguila Saleh, an ally of one of the main candidates, Marshal Khalifa Haftar who de facto controls the east and part of the south of Libya.

>> To read: After the cannons, the ballot boxes?

Marshal Haftar storms the presidential election in Libya

The electoral law is notably rejected by several political forces who accuse it of being tailor-made for the marshal, because it allows him to be a presidential candidate but also to be able to regain his military post if he was not. not elected.

All of these factors are fueling confusion in the country while everything suggests that the electoral calendar, which also provides for legislative elections in January (initially scheduled for December), is likely to not be respected.

The scenario of a postponement is even now more than conceivable, even though the Libyan government declared Sunday "ready" to organize it.

"The government has not skimped on the means and efforts to support the HNEC. We have the opportunity to make December 24 a historic day," said Ramadan Abou Jnah, who is acting as head of government. ever since Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah ran for president.

"The climate is not rationally favorable to organize elections"

"It is obvious that these elections are very compromised given the political, legal and security situation in Libya, notes Hafed al-Ghwell, specialist on Libya and researcher at the Foreign Policy Institute (FPI) at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, interviewed by France 24. The climate is not rationally conducive to holding an election of this type, and the main candidates do not appear ready to participate in a poll in a serious and fair manner. "

And to stress: "The international community pretends to treat this country as if it were a stable state, but it is an illusion because there is not even a state in Libya, there is no There are no institutions, there are only rival camps and militias facing each other. "

For Hafed al-Ghwell, neither side is ready to recognize the results of the poll.

“On the one hand, you have a marshal who is the head of a state within a state, Khalifa Haftar, who does not seem ready to accept any result other than his own victory, he continues. 'other parties have warned that they will not recognize him if he wins. "

In addition to Marshal Khalifa Haftar and Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah, Seif al-Islam Gadhafi, the son of former dictator Muammar Gadhafi, wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for "crimes against humanity", is also among the dozens of presidential candidates.

His candidacy was initially rejected for non-compliance with the electoral law, before being finally accepted.

Hafed al-Ghwell even believes that maintaining the current election in December could plunge Libya back into violence, while UN envoy for Libya Jan Kubis threw in the towel for a month before the presidential election.

"The international community has been pushing in recent months for the ballot to take place on schedule without taking into account the reality on the ground, he concludes. I think that if the election is ever organized in such a context, he It should not be expected to bring stability, but on the contrary, it risks further complicating the situation in the country. "

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