Libyans in dark over election with eight days to go

EIGHT days before Libyans were meant to cast presidential votes, there is utter confusion over the fate of an election that has not yet been formally delayed, but that even an electoral official now says will be impossible to hold on time.

The planned December 24 vote, along with a parallel election for a new parliament, was meant to help end Libya’s past decade of chaos by installing a political leadership with national legitimacy after years of factional division.

However, the process has been dogged since the start by bitter disputes over the election’s legal basis and fundamental rules, including over the eligibility of deeply divisive front-runners, that have never been resolved.

On Saturday the electoral commission said it would not announce the final list of eligible candidates, drawn from the 98 who registered, until after legal discussions with the judiciary and parliament.

Amid continued arguments and fears for electoral