In Libya, anger and uncertainty after elections were delayed | Khalifa Haftar News

Libyans have reacted angrily and hopelessly after government officials announced the suspension of a key president. election first it is supposed to take place on Friday.

Electoral Commission Wednesday recommended The vote – which aims to end the 10-year-old turmoil in the country – will be reversed by one month, due to a lack of preparation and disagreement between various political parties over legitimate reasons for the election.

Mohammed al-Wafi, a resident of Tripoli, could not hide his frustration when he confirmed that the Libyan people were “thirsty” in the election.

“We are refusing to cancel the election. I’m talking about the concept of the whole Libyan street. We, as citizens of the south [region], help to make timely, honest elections, ”al-Wafi said.

The National Electoral Commission (IEC) is set to hold a one-month vote until January 24, but because of hostilities between the Eastern Parliament and government officials in Tripoli, it has not been easy to agree on a new date.

About 2.5 million Libyans took their voting cards, out of 7 million people.

But the vote was marred by tensions between rival leaders in the east and west of the country following NATO-backed coups that ousted former dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

First, there is the insistence of Speaker Aguila Saleh that Libya continue with the presidential vote before the parliamentary election.

Opponents say Saleh, who heads the House of Representatives in the east and wants to run for President, sees the vote as a victory.

This is a hope that has frustrated many Tripoli residents, including Ahmed Baiyed, who said the vote would have created a president whose powers would not be logical if there were no laws governing the country.

“I am happy that the presidential election is not taking place. To make decisions you need to have a foundation. Our foundation is law, “Baiyed told Al Jazeera.

“If we do not have rules about what we have, and what power the president has, how can we vote for a president?”

This was the view of Othman al-Amari, who regretted that parliament had failed to respond after so many years of rule.

“We have to have parliamentary elections first, then the president,” he said. Parliament has been in power for a number of years and has done nothing.

Then there was the disagreement over whether to allow him to participate in the election.

The three most prominent supporters – Khalifa Haftar, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and Abdul Hamid Dbeibah – were also the three most divided.

Haftar was unpopular with many in western Libya after the 2019-20 war in Tripoli that disrupted parts of the capital. Gaddafi, the son of a former governor, has been convicted of war crimes by a Tripoli court and disliked by many who fought in the 2011 terrorist attacks.

Dbeibah, the prime minister, has vowed never to run in the by-elections. His continued tenure as prime minister in the run-up to the polls has led many of his opponents to say that he was a victim of injustice.

Hope was gone

The delay is another setback to Libya’s lasting transformation, after 42 years of one-man rule and ten years of civil war.

The period under Muammar Gaddafi from 1969-2011 was brutally oppressed, but the Libyan people benefited from generous aid paid for with money from major oil resources in Africa.

But the uprising that toppled Gaddafi turned into a bitter war that drew mercenaries and foreign powers. The country’s construction and economy plummeted, and electricity cuts and inflation became commonplace.

In Tripoli, the Dbeibah sub-district government has been working to sign agreements to rebuild and revitalize the city, which was badly damaged by the Haftar 2019-2020 invasion.

Did it all come to naught?

Businessman Ibrahim Ali-Bek believes the war will resume.

In that case, “ordinary people should pay a price”, he said.

In other parts of the country, Benghazi, the birthplace of the Gaddafi invasion, is experiencing a similar crisis.

Engineer Mohamed El-Jadi is said to have taken part in the show in hopes of “freedom and greater development”.

El-Jadi said he was disappointed with the delay in the election.

“Our standard of living has dropped, our wages have not changed despite rising prices and we live in volatile areas,” he said.

“The contestants, who often decided to stand for election, knew they had no chance of winning. That is why they were disappointed,” he said.