Libya’s High National Election Commission (HNEC) stated in a communique that 3,400 men and 597 women registered their names to vie for seats in Parliament.

According to the plan, the general elections will be held on December 24, although calls from several sectors to postpone the voting grow, an idea rejected by the international community.

Ninety-eight candidates registered to run in the presidential elections, although the HNEC declassified more than 20 of them.

Among the leading candidates are 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.

The international community considers those elections fundamental to try to end 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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