Expected, but still. Seven years after the murder of Colonel Gaddafi and the destruction of Libya, his son, having survived a long prison sentence and death threat, begins the struggle for the presidency.
In Libya, a campaign has begun to support the candidacy of Seif al-Islam Gaddafi to head Libya
. This week, a campaign began in Libya to prepare the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections in 2019. There are more and more voices calling for the lifting of sanctions and embargo imposed by the West on Libya, including against the Libyan tribes, to allow them to participate in the political process. The campaign of supporters of Muammar Gaddafi under the slogan “The candidature of Seif al-Islam Gaddafi – for the presidency”, which unfolds both inside Libya and abroad, is becoming more and more active every day. Libyans look with hope to candidate Saif al-Islam Gaddafi.
“The campaign, which includes many different components of the Libyan society (Arabs, Amazighs and Tuaregs), coincides with the preparations that are being carried out by the parties to the crisis for holding presidential elections,” said Mohamed Al-Rumaih, founder of the Movement of Libya Libya, to AL-ARABIA Supporter of Al-Islam Gaddafi. In his opinion, this is the only hope to save the homeland and citizens of Libya and restore the prestige, sovereignty and dignity of the Libyan state.
Al-Rumaih added that they are preparing to launch the official website, and then a series of programs will be announced calling on Libyans to join the campaign and support the candidacy of Seif al-Islam Gaddafi in the elections to restore the state and move from destruction to reconstruction. Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, since his release from prison in Zintan in June 2017, is politically active and even moves around the country.
Meetings of Russian politicians and journalists with his envoys last week in Moscow and talks about Kremlin contacts with him are convincing signs that pave the way for the return of Gaddafi’s son to the political scene of Libya.
Russia supports Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi in the political process and advocates the need for his participation in national reconciliation efforts in Libya, which in 2011 after the insurgency against the Libyan Jamahiriya, inspired by NATO intelligence services through the Al-Qaida terrorist group, and after eight months of NATO alliance aggression plunged into chaos.
The tragic situation in Libya, whose state institutions were destroyed by gangs of mercenaries in 2011, and the terrorists were in power, speaks in favor of Gadhafi’s son.
Many Libyans feel nostalgia for the Libyan Jamahiriya. Local polls have shown that the current situation in Libya guarantees Seif al-Islam Gaddafi that he will get a high percentage of votes in the presidential elections, and supporters of Muammar Gaddafi, including among young people, will get most of the seats in Libya’s new parliament. This is the choice of the Libyan people, but will the West give it the opportunity to organize free, democratic elections under the aegis of the UN?
An important role in the prospects of Gaddafi Jr. is whether he can agree on the distribution of power with Haftar, who controls the largest paramilitary units in Libya, owns a significant part of oil production and and has support from a number of foreign countries.
Of course, there is no guarantee that some of the external forces will not want to preserve a destabilized Libya, exacerbating internal tribal and political contradictions.