Politics, Africa

On eve of polls, Libyan lawmakers seek to grill elections commission head

Move comes after Libyan court ordered Khalifa Haftar excluded from Dec. 24 presidential election

Mohammad Erteima  | 05.12.2021 - Update : 06.12.2021
On eve of polls, Libyan lawmakers seek to grill elections commission head FILE PHOTO

TRIPOLI, Libya 

Less than three weeks before Libya’s presidential polls, dozens of Libyan lawmakers on Sunday called for questioning the head of the country’s elections commission along with judicial poll supervisors.

In a statement, the MPs criticized what they said “the commission’s silence over suspicions of fraud, vote-buying, and attempts to influence the judiciary.”

The statement, signed by 70 lawmakers, called for holding a parliamentary session on Monday “to question Emad Al-Sayeh, the head of the elections commission, and representatives of the judicial authorities supervising the polls.”

The move came after the Court of First Instance in the western city of al-Zawiya last Tuesday ordered the exclusion of Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar from the Dec. 24 presidential polls.

An Anadolu Agency analysis of the 70 lawmakers’ statement found that most of them are supporters of Haftar.

Tuesday’s court ruling against Haftar is not final, and the warlord can still issue a challenge at a court of appeals.

Libya’s presidential and parliamentary elections are set to take place on Dec. 24 under a UN-sponsored agreement reached by Libyan political rivals during meetings in Tunisia last November.

Libyans hope the elections will help end an armed conflict that has plagued the oil-rich country for years.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara

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