Gaddafi’s son aims to create political dynasty

TEN years ago this spring, Libyans rose up to overthrow the man who had ruled them with an iron fist for more than three decades.

Now, his son wants to make a dynastic comeback.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the second son of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, is poised to stand for president in internationally sanctioned elections later this month after a court overturned objections to his candidacy on Thursday evening.

Educated at the London School of Economics, Saif al-Islam for many years styled himself as the moderate, modernising force inside his father’s regime.

That changed in 2011, when he threw in his lot with his father against an antigovernment uprising later backed by Nato. After his father was killed, he was captured and held prisoner by a militia from the city of Zintan for several years before his release in 2017.

In his only interview since he resurfaced this summer, Saif al-Islam said he intended to reunite the country under his father’s Green movement and claimed many Libyans believed his regime should have dealt even more harshly with the opposition.

And when he appeared in public to file his candidacy papers last month, he was swathed in the same ochre bedouin robes favoured by his father, in an unapologetic attempt to create continuity with the previous government.

Polling data in Libya are patchy and unreliable.

But many observers believe that nostalgia, combined with strong name recognition, might well be enough to secure him a respectable share of the vote – especially in traditional strongholds of the Gaddafi clan in the country’s south.

“He has not been involved in politics for a decade, and that is to his advantage,” said Hassan Morajea, a Libya analyst for the COAR Global political risks agency. “People have very fresh memories of the chaos of the past 10 years. But they have hazier memories about why they forced out his father in 2011.”

More than 80 candidates have registered to run in the first round of presidential elections scheduled for Dec 24.

Libya’s High National Elections Committee is due to publish the final approved list of candidates on Tuesday.

Prominent candidates include Gen Khalifa Haftar, the renegade field marshal who laid siege to Tripoli for a year in 2019-2020.

He has presented himself as a strongman leader capable of facing down the threat of militant Islam. Critics say he is a would-be military dictator.

Gen Haftar, who would also be chasing voters sympathetic to the former regime, on Monday sent troops from his self-styled Libyan National Army to stop Mr Gaddafi’s lawyer from delivering his appeal to the courthouse in the desert town of Sabha.

That resulted in an almost comic standoff outside the court building, but the lawyer eventually got through.

The third big beast in the vote is Abdulhamid Dbeibeh, a construction tycoon from the western city of Misrata, who is the current interim prime minister. Mr Dabaiba initially promised not to run for election, but is thought to have built up considerable support in the west of Libya, partly by raising salaries.

Many western observers believe he is the front runner in the race.

Other candidates include Fathih Bashagar, a former interior minister and fellow Misrati, who has courted Turkey and Western governments.

The international community made the elections a key part of a ceasefire deal that ended the battle of Tripoli last year. It hopes they will help build a political settlement that will end a decade of war and civil strife as rival militias and warlords fought for dominance.