Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of Libya’s former leader Muammar Gaddafi, registered on Sunday (November 14) as a presidential candidate for the December 24 election, an official from the electoral commission said.
Photographs distributed on social media showed Gaddafi in traditional brown robe and turban, and with a grey beard and glasses, signing documents at the registration center in the southern town of Sebha.
Gaddafi is one of the most prominent figures expected to run for president – a list that also includes eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar, Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah and parliament speaker Aguila Saleh.
While Gaddafi is likely to play on nostalgia for the era before the 2011 NATO-backed uprising that swept his father from power and ushered in a decade of chaos and violence, analysts say he may not prove to be a front runner.
The Gaddafi era is still remembered by many Libyans as one of harsh autocracy, while Saif al-Islam and other former regime figures have been out of power for so long they may find it difficult to mobilize as much support as major rivals.
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