Under the title "23 Candidates in the Libyan Elections.. Aqila Saleh to Submit His Papers Today," the Al Arabiya website reported that as the Libyan Electoral Commission continues to receive applications from presidential candidates, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Aqila Saleh, is expected to officially submit his candidacy papers today in Benghazi.
Al Arabiya and Al Hadath correspondents indicated that the number of presidential candidates has reached 23 so far, while the number of candidates for parliament has reached 1,231. It is also anticipated that Libyan diplomat Abdulmajid Saif Al-Nasr will submit his presidential candidacy papers in Sabha within the next few hours.
Additionally, there have been reports that Abdulhadi Al-Hweij, the Foreign Minister of Abdullah Thani's government, announced his intention to submit his candidacy papers for the presidency on Sunday.
The President of the State Council in Libya, the Muslim Brotherhood's Khaled Al-Mishri, reiterated his refusal to participate in the parliamentary and presidential elections in December. On Friday, Al-Mishri stated that he would not participate in the elections as a voter or a candidate and called for parliamentary elections only in February.
Despite the House of Representatives denying any intention to amend the presidency candidacy laws, particularly Article 12, close sources confirmed that the Prime Minister of the National Unity Government, Abdulhamid Dbeibeh, completed the financial disclosure form for himself and his family in preparation for submitting his credentials before next Monday, as advised by a legal team assisting him in his candidacy.
The Libyan parliament denied any intention to amend the presidential election law to enable certain political figures to run for the presidential elections. The legislative and legal committee of the parliament stated on Thursday evening that it had not received any invitations for a general meeting or proposals to amend the presidential election law, emphasizing that it is the body that drafted the laws, and any amendments must pass through it before being presented to the deputies in a general session.
