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IPFS News Link • Libya

Rise Of Gaddafi's Son Throws Libyan Elections Into Chaos, Alarms West

• https://www.zerohedge.com, Via Southfront.org

Only official communication from the National High Electoral Commission is awaited. Libya risks a new power vacuum, because both Prime Minister Abdelhamid Dbeibah and Head of State Mohamed Younis Ahmed al-Manfi would have fallen from their posts in coincidence with the elections. Their mandate was completed and linked to the electoral consultation.

Saif Al Islam Gaddafi's candidacy destroyed the already precarious balance between the factions competing for power in Libya. The country is divided into three major areas of influence. Tripolitania is substantially under the protection of the Turkish government, Cyrenaica – currently the only "quiet" region – is governed by the Libyan National Army led by General Haftar and is under Russian and Egyptian influence. And finally the Fezzan, the reservoir of much of Libyan wealth with 70 per cent of hydrocarbons. Precisely in the constituency of Sebha, the most important city of Fezzan, Saif Al Islam Gaddafi had presented his candidacy as president of the Libyan Republic.

The pressures of the international community to celebrate the vote have stalled due to the friction between the various actors in Libyan politics. If the vote were truly free, Libya would undoubtedly choose Saif Al Islam as the new head of state. It is the result of all the pre-election polls carried out by the media and social media operators in recent weeks. Gaddafi's name would have defeated every competitor: an epochal defeat for the United Nations and for the new leaders of Libya after 2011.

There are clear signals from the political and military fields. Tripoli came under the control of armed militias again last week. Colonel Salah Badi's Al Samoud Brigade showed the total inconsistency of the Dbeibah/AlMenfi duo. In a few hours, Colonel Badi's vehicles brought the key points of power in Tripoli under control, from the presidential palace to the Ministry of Defense. At the same time, the Lybian National Army was besieging the city of Sebha. The objective of General Haftar's troops was to put the 116th Brigade under their control. Mission accomplished. Haftar's army now controls two of the three main Libyan regions.


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