House of Representatives member Ammar Al-Ablaq predicted a renewal of disputes between the House of Representatives and the High Council of State over presidential candidacy requirements, meaning a “return to square one.” He considered it more appropriate to have left the handling of contentious articles to the coordination between the (6+6) committee and the UN advisory committee, rather than returning them to the two councils.
Al-Ablaq pointed to the complexity of the scene, as the most prominent potential candidates in the east and west are “active forces on the ground” with armed groups. Excluding any party would anger their supporters and threaten the security and integrity of the electoral process.
He explained that the drafting of the laws and the exclusion of military personnel and dual nationals “was not divorced from political calculations,” but is practically used to exclude specific individuals.
He noted that the High Council of State’s adoption of the condition to exclude individuals wanted by the International Criminal Court could anger supporters of Gaddafi’s son, as he is the only candidate on the court’s lists.
Al-Ablaq called for overcoming the disputes and making concessions to resolve the issue of the requirements. He warned that UN envoy Hanna Tetteh might consider these stances an “obstruction” in her upcoming mid-month briefing, and could potentially propose bypassing the role of the two councils and attempt to convince the Security Council to do so.