Libya’s High Council ready to vote for new president

According to a source close to the High Council of State (HCS), it will convene next week to elect a new president to take over from Khalid Al-Mishri’s position.

The source who preferred to be unnamed said the session could be convened next Monday at the HCS headquarters in Tripoli to elect a Head and two Deputies as well as a rapporteur as the current presidency’s term has ended.

The elections for the presidency of the HCS were used to be held in April of each year, but Haftar’s aggression on Tripoli in 2019 led to its postponement that year, to be held from then on in late July or early August.

The source said that the current Head of the HCS – Al-Mishri – is the most prominent candidate after he was reluctant to run for office earlier, denying that former Head Andelrahman Al-Sweihli is among the candidates.

The source also confirmed the existence of major divisions within the HCS which will inevitably reflect on these elections, adding that the most important of those divisions are undoubtedly those over the “political deal” that led to the appointment of Fathi Bashagha as Prime Minister of a parallel government.

The source said that two of the most prominent supporters of the “Bashagha deal” – the Head of the Justice and Construction bloc in the HCS, Abdelsalam Al-Safrani and the former rapporteur of the HCS, Al-Ajili Abu Sadil, have announced their candidacy for the presidency.