ÎPTÎSAM AXFÎR

Benghazi- On December 24, 2021, Libyans will vote in their first presidential election since the end of the rule of Muammar Gaddafi. In November 2020, the Libya Stabilisation Conference was held led by the UN and the first round of the Libyan presidential election was scheduled to be held on December 24, 2021. 908 candidates have registered for the election and only two of them are women; 43-years-old Laila Ben Khalifa and 39-year-old Hunaida Tumia. While some women think that this number encourages women for the upcoming presidential elections, others think that this number is too low.

“Women are not allowed to govern the state”

Nouria Al-Sharif, a journalist and political activist, thinks the number of women candidates is very low due to political tensions in Libya, “The women do not have a fighting chance because women are not allowed to govern the state. Until now, no woman has been elected as president in Libya. Environmental and social factors prevent women from running for president,” she says.

“Women’s participation is important”

Women’s rights activist Salha Al-Hassouni thinks that women’s participation in both parliamentary elections and the presidential elections is important.

Salwa Al-Majri, the president of the Libyan Women's Platform For Peace, says that the elections to be held on December 24 are very important for the future of Libya compared to the previous elections. Stating that many women decided to run for the presidential elections but they faced many obstacles, she says, “One of these obstacles was that they couldn’t register for the election although some of them confirmed their registration. Tribalism and regionalism were one of the most important obstacles faced by women. Despite everything, Libyan women are strong under all circumstances.”