Over 5,000 candidates registered for Libyan parliamentary polls

Tripoli, Dec 10 (IANS) The Libyan High National Elections Commission (HNEC) has announced that a total of 5,385 candidates have been registered for the upcoming parliamentary polls.

"The candidates have submitted the required legal documents stipulated by the candidates registration regulation, which are now initially reviewed by the commission according to the election laws," Xinhua news agency quoted the Commission as saying in a statement.

The most notable presidential candidates include Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the late leader Muammar Gaddafi; Khalifa Haftar, the commander of the eastern-based army; Aguila Saleh, the speaker of Parliament; and Abdul-Hamid Dbeibah, the incumbent Prime Minister.

The registration of the parliamentary election candidates ended on Tuesday.

More than 2.8 million Libyan voters are expected to cast their votes to elect a President in the December 24 polls, as part of a roadmap adopted by the UN-sponsored Libyan Political Dialogue Forum.

The Libyan parliamentary elections, originally planned to be held on the same day as the presidential poll, have been postponed to January 2022.