The Libyan High National Elections Commission (HNEC) opened registration on Monday for candidates in the presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for 24 December. While Western powers welcomed the official start of the electoral marathon, Libyans are still divided over many aspects of the electoral process. Disputes among them and any other number of surprise developments could still derail the UN-led political process.

In a press conference on Sunday afternoon, HNEC Chairman Emad Al-Sayeh said the candidates running for president would be able to submit their papers from 8 to 22 November in the HNEC’s main offices in Tripoli, Benghazi and Sebha, while candidates for the legislative elections could apply from 8 November to 7 December at the various branch offices located throughout the country. These offices would also be distributing some 1,800,000 voter registration cards until 28 November.

On Sunday evening, the HNEC published the regulations governing the presidential and legislative elections. These include eligibility criteria such as those stipulating that presidential candidates and their parents may not have a foreign nationality or hold a public office in the three months prior to election day on 24 December. This latter point has already stirred considerable controversy. Many charge that it was tailored to Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar who resigned as Commander of the Libyan National Army in September in order to run for president.

One of the main centres of opposition to the electoral laws is the High Council of State (HCS). Its chairman, Khaled Al-Mishri, announced that he and others have filed suits to contest the laws with the Administrative Court, the Constitutional Circuit of the Supreme Court and other courts. The opponents argue that the laws were adopted in the absence of a constitutional framework and without consensus, which conflicts with the roadmap embraced by the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) in its meeting in Tunisia in November 2020.

The electoral laws, described by some as “defective,” were passed by the House of Representatives around three months ago. Some amendments were introduced a few days before the HNEC announced the opening of the candidate registration process. In his press conference on Sunday, Al-Sayeh indicated that another amendment might be introduced soon, affecting Article 12 of the presidential elections law. This is the article pertaining to the need for candidates to resign from any public office they hold at least three months ahead of the polls. The amendment could open the law to even more challenges.

Another point of contention is the timing of the elections. Some Libyans oppose holding the presidential and legislative elections simultaneously, questioning whether the authority that specified the date was legitimately entitled to do so. Although the international community continues to insist that both elections should be held on 24 December, the Libyan House of Representatives recently passed a legislative elections law stating that these should be held 30 days after the presidential elections. Then the HNEC announced that the run-offs of the presidential polls would be held 45 days after the first round (meaning mid-February).

In August, the US proposed a compromise solution whereby the first round of presidential elections and elections for one house of a bicameral legislature would be held simultaneously on 24 December. Then the run-offs of the presidential elections would be held and a week after that the second house of the legislature would be elected. Washington also proposed eliminating the legal obstacles to Prime Minister Abdel-Hamid Al-Dabeiba’s presidential candidacy. The initiative failed to gain traction among US allies, especially France.

Speaker of the House of Representatives Aguila Saleh welcomed the official opening of the candidate registration process. In a brief statement, he urged the Libyan people to “exercise their right to freely choose their representatives and to elect the right man to steer the nation to the shores of safety and stability.” Saleh has not yet stated whether he plans to run for president.

Many political parties, civil society organisations and political figures issued similar statements welcoming the official start of the electoral process and calling on Libyans to turn out to the polls to elect their parliamentary representatives and the new head of state. As of Monday, the UN and foreign diplomatic missions had not issued a response to the HNEC’s announcement even though these agencies are usually quick to declare their opinions on such developments.

According to the HNEC, 1,803,458 Libyan citizens will have the opportunity to cast their ballots in 1,906 polling stations in the country. The figure is based on the voter registration base that the commission updated in August.

Former interior minister Fathi Bashagha,  former foreign minister Abdel-Hadi Al-Hawij, former libyan ambassador to the European Union Hafez Kaddour, former minister of industry Fathi Bin Shatwan, former president of the Islamic Call Society (the religious arm of the Gaddafi regime) Mohammad Sherif, former MP from Zintan Abdel-Salam Nassiya, former Libyan ambassador to the UAE Aref Al-Nayed, the comedian Hatem Al-Kour and the former Libyan ambassador to the UN Ibrahim Dabbashi have all declared their intention to run for president. Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar and House of Representatives Speaker Aguila Saleh are expected to announce their candidacies soon.

Sources close to Prime Minister Dabeiba have told local and international media that he plans to run for president but so far he has issued no official confirmation of this. His spokesman has said that Dabeiba has told him nothing of his plans in this regard.

In light of the many challenges that could still jeopardise the interim roadmap, France is currently preparing to host a major summit on Libya on 12 November. In addition to the participants in the Berlin 1 and 2 conferences on Libya, Libya’s neighbours have also been invited. The Paris summit aims to build regional and international support for the Libyan political process, to ratify the 5+5 Joint Military Commission’s plans to remove foreign fighters and mercenaries from Libyan soil, and to build up an international commitment to help Libyans meet the conditions needed to hold the elections on time and honour the results of the polls. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have already indicated they would not attend the Paris summit.