Libyan Election Commission Rules out 25 Presidential Candidates

On Wednesday, Libya's election commission decided to rule out 25 candidates, inlcluding Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of the former ruler, from the planned presidential elections race scheduled for December 24.

In a statement, the commission said that Saif al-Islam Gaddafi was ineligible to run, compounding the turmoil surrounding the vote.

Some 98 Libyans registered as candidates.

Disputes over the election rules, including the legal basis of the vote and who should be eligible to stand, threaten to derail an internationally backed peace process aimed at ending a decade of factional chaos.

Disputes over the election rules, including the legal basis of the vote and who should be eligible to stand, threaten to derail an internationally-backed peace process aimed at ending a decade of factional chaos.

The military prosecutor in Tripoli had urged the commission to rule out Gaddafi after his conviction in absentia on war crimes charges in 2015 for his part in fighting the revolution that toppled his father Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. He has denied wrongdoing.

Some of the other candidates initially approved by the commission had also been accused of possible violations by political rivals.

Interim Prime Minister Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah vowed not to run for president as a condition of taking on his present role, and did not stand down from it three months before the vote as is required by a contested election law.