Moammar Gadhafi’s Son Launches Libyan Presidential Bid

Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, the son of Libya’s slain dictator, launched a presidential campaign on Sunday in an attempt to retake control of the country more than a decade after the fall of his father’s regime in an armed rebellion.

Appearing for the first time in public in at least six years, Mr. Gadhafi signed the paperwork to register his candidacy in the city of Sebha in Libya’s remote southern region, television footage showed. Libya’s High National Election commission confirmed on its website that its office in Sebha had received Mr. Gadhafi’s candidacy papers.

“Okay?” he said, grinning as he affixed his thumbprint to his election filings. The quip elicited a laugh from the room full of journalists and onlookers, one of whom responded, “Okay!”

Mr. Gadhafi’s declared run for the presidency is a symbol of the historic moment Libya is facing with its coming election set for Dec. 24. More than 10 years after the uprising and foreign airstrikes that overthrew Moammar Gadhafi’s regime, Libya is struggling to overcome years of conflict and political crisis.

If he were to be elected, Mr. Gadhafi would likely be opposed by millions of Libyans who supported the revolution that toppled and brutally killed his father in 2011, ending more than 30 years of autocratic rule. Mr. Gadhafi remains a fierce opponent of the pro-democracy uprising and many Libyans fear he would re-establish the dictatorship.

Mr. Gadhafi is also the subject of an active arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity including murder and persecution for his alleged role in a bloody crackdown on the popular protests against the government in 2011. He is also wanted by prosecutors in Tripoli in connection with alleged killings carried out by Russian paramilitaries in the country. Mr. Gadhafi denies the charges.

The elder Gadhafi was killed by rebels during the 2011 rebellion, which ousted the dictator with the help of airstrikes carried out by NATO and Middle Eastern powers.

Saif al-Islam Gadhafi has been in various forms of detention and hiding since he was captured by rebels in 2011. In an interview with the New York Times published earlier this year, he expressed a desire to bring his family back to power, calling the 2011 uprising “evil.”

A small but vocal minority of Libyans still have loyalty to the old regime or express a degree of nostalgia for the relative stability of the Gadhafi era. Under Moammar Gadhafi’s rule, Libya was an international pariah governed by a ruthless police state, but since his overthrow the country has gone through multiple cycles of crisis and conflict.

Some Libyans reacted with disgust at Mr. Gadhafi’s announcement.

“Criminals with a sword over their heads have their place on the lists of those wanted by justice and not on the lists of candidates for the elections,” said Abdulrahman Sewehli, a prominent former official from the postrevolution era, in a tweet.

The December election could decide whether Libya consolidates the fragile peace that has existed since the country’s rival leaders signed a U.N.-brokered cease-fire deal last year and established an interim unity government that has been in place since earlier this year.

Mr. Gadhafi doesn’t fit neatly into Libya’s existing political fault lines which left the country ruled by two separate governments until the 2020 peace deal. Other possible presidential candidates include Khalifa Haftar, the Russian-backed militia leader who launched the 14-month military assault on Tripoli that ended last year. The prime minister of Libya’s interim unity government, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah, is also expected to run.

Some Libyan officials and observers fear that the hastily organized election could spark another conflict. The run-up to the election has been marred by disputes over the timing, rules, and legal basis for the vote, driving concerns that the outcome could be disputed.

At an international summit in Paris last week, world leaders put pressure on Libya to hold the election on time, arguing that delaying the election could leave the country without a legitimate government.

Libyans authorities have accused Russians of meddling in their elections, arresting a Russian researcher and his translator in 2019 on charges of electoral tampering after they allegedly offered Mr. Gadhafi help with a possible presidential run. Mr. Gadhafi hasn’t commented on the charges.