Quoted by LANA news agency, a HNEC source revealed that 98 people registered their names to run for the country’s highest office before registration closed on Monday evening.

The institution must validate each of these candidacies before December 8, when the electoral campaign begins.

Several important figures, among them Libya’s eastern strongman Marshal Khalifa Haftar; Saif al-Islam, son of former leader Muammar Gaddafi; Parliament Speaker Aqilah Saleh; and interim Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Dbeiba, announced their plans to occupy the presidential seat.

The international community considers those elections key to try to put an end to the spiral of violence the country has been experiencing since Gaddafi was overthrown in 2011, after a war supported by members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, among them the United States, France and the United Kingdom.

Under the auspices of the United Nations, 75 Libyan delegates, representing several factions and territories, elected a transitional government in February to lead the country until the elections are held.

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