Libya’s high council questions holding election without a constitution

Libya’s High Council of State yesterday expressed concerns over plans to hold a presidential election without having a constitution to regulate the country’s affairs.

The council’s chairperson, Khalid Al-Mishri, told reporters in Tripoli that the move might lead to a “possible coup in Libya.”

Al-Mashri added that the council was refusing to allow “dual nationals and military personnel to run for president,” accusing renegade General Khalifa Haftar of “attempting to take part in the elections by cheating.”

The Tobruk government in the east, which supports Haftar, is not a “legislative body” , Al-Mishri explained, adding that it was “dissolved by a decision of the Constitutional Commission.”

He also accused the head of the High National Election Commission, Emad Al-Sayah, of “defending Haftar in order for him to run for president in the upcoming elections.”

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“We reject the candidacy of dual nationals,” Al-Mishri reiterated, referring to the fact that Haftar holds the American citizenship.

Libya is set to hold presidential elections on 24 December, while parliamentary elections will take place a month later. It is hoped the elections will bring to an end years of armed conflict that have plagued the oil-rich country.