On Tuesday, Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi, son of the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, announced a political initiative to “end the current political impasse in Libya.”
According to his lawyer, Khaled Al-Zaydi during an interview with the Al-Arabiya channel; he called on all political figures, including himself, to withdraw from the arena and to hold Presidential and Parliamentary elections that would produce new faces chosen by the Libyan people.
The initiative laid out two options. The first of which is “assigning a neutral party to make administrative and legal arrangements for the implementation of prompt, inclusive elections.” These would “ensure the participation of the entirety of the Libyan people, without exception.”
He explained that the second option is the “withdrawal of all current political figures from the electoral process, without any exception.” This would “allow for new personalities, chosen by the Libyan people through transparent elections, to take charge.”
Al-Zaydi stressed that Libya is “in an exceptional, critical situation, and Presidential and Parliamentary elections must take place, and this is the last solution to avoid bloodshed.”
Gaddafi’s lawyer continued, “We presented a previous initiative to all political parties and the United Nations Mission (UNSMIL) regarding holding Presidential elections. This stipulated holding Parliamentary elections and postponing the Presidential elections, provided that the new Parliament will form a government and supervise the Presidential elections, but this initiative was rejected.”
This initiative coincides with the Presidential Council’s announcement that it assigned Vice-President, Abdullah Al-Lafi to conduct urgent consultations with political parties. This is to “reach an agreement on the details of an action plan that addresses the political blockage in the country. As well as to launch a roadmap to end the transitional stages through Presidential and Parliamentary elections within a specific time frame.”