Dec. 22 (UPI) — The head of a Libyan elections committee said Wednesday that it will be “impossible” to stage the country’s presidential election as planned on Friday, due to numerous challenges that remain ahead of the vote.
Al-Hadi al-Sagheir, the head of the parliamentary committee responsible for overseeing the vote, said in a letter to lawmakers that he came to the decision after reviewing technical and security reports.
Al-Sagheir recommended that the first round of votes for the election be postponed by a month, to be staged instead on Jan. 24.
Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, son of former Libya dictator Moammar Gadhafi, is among the presidential candidates. File Photo by Sabri Elmhedwi/EPA-EFE
The presidential election is the culmination of almost a year of efforts, which included the international community, to democratically elect a leader and bring peace to the war-torn African nation, which is considered part of the Middle East.
The nation’s top elections commission disbanded earlier this week and handed control of the vote over to Libya’s Parliament. The commission was supposed to finalize a list of candidates, but failed to do so before it dissolved.
Some controversial candidates — including Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, son of former Libya dictator Moammar Gadhafi — have won legal appeals against disqualification.
Libya has been in near constant turmoil since Gadhafi was overthrown and killed in 2011, which resulted in two rival governments — one in the east and one in the west that’s recognized by the United Nations.