Gaddafi junior files nomination to run for Libyan president chair

Tripoli: Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi registered as a presidential candidate on Sunday for the December 24 election, Reuters sourcing from the electoral commission reported. He is one of the prominent figures in the list of those running for president, including military commander Khalifa Haftar, Prime Minister Ab Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah and parliament speaker Aguila Saleh.

Photographs were shown on social media in which Gaddafi is seen signing documents at the registration centre in the Sebha south of Tripoli.

Though the public supports most Libyan factions and foreign powers for elections on December 24, the vote is in doubt as rival sects dispute over the rules and schedule. On Friday, a conference in Paris agreed to sanction those who disrupt the vote, but there is no agreement on rules to govern who should be able to run.

Analysts opine that Gaddafi might not prove to be a front runner, though he is likely to play on the nostalgia of the era before the 2011 uprising, backed by NATO that took his father from power. Libyans still remember Muammar Gaddafi's era as one of the brutal autocracies. Saif Al-Islam and others from the former regime have been out of power for so long that it would be difficult for them to mobilise support as must as their major rivals.