On the day following the international conference on Libya, hosted by France, Saif el-Islam Gaddafi held his first press conference since his father’s assassination. He proudly announced his candidacy for the presidential election scheduled for 24 December 2021.

Following in his tracks, Marshal Khalifa Haftar also announced his candidacy.

Two other figures could also make a bid for the presidency: the current Prime Minister and the President of the National Assembly.

Bashir Salah Bashir, Muamar Gaddafi’s former chief of staff, is also rumored to have returned to Libya. He managed to stay alive thanks to the recordings of conversations between the Libyan Leader and President Nicolas Sarkozy, which he kept in his possession. He was the subject of an assassination attempt in South Africa in 2018 in which he was seriously injured. Here again, he survived and was exfiltrated to Dubai.

The political return of Saif el-Islam, announced several times but never confirmed, upset the Western apple cart from one day to the next.