In the wake of the escalating crisis of debates between Libyan-dominated candidates

Tripoli, Dec 21 (Reuters) – The political crisis in Libya escalated on Tuesday as Benghazi discussed ways to reverse the electoral process, which is expected to help some candidates leave the country in the weekend’s presidential election. Decade of chaos.

It was the highest-level meeting in the framework of several days of behind-the-scenes talks between candidates, factions and foreign powers over the postponement of the vote and the hypothesis that the interim government could continue its work until the end. Polling day.

Roadblocks south of the capital were blocked and rioters gathered in Tripoli in the morning, while schools contacted parents of students asking them to pick up their children.

The presidential election, which was originally scheduled for Friday, is not expected to go ahead as planned due to a stalemate in the electoral process and the failure to reach a firm agreement on the voting rules.

The head of the Election Commission, Hadi al-Zakir, said by telephone that the vote should be postponed due to a lack of time to make preparations.

However, the postponement of the presidential election has not yet been officially announced.

It focuses on the debate between candidates, factions and foreign powers involved in the political process in Libya, as to whether it is necessary to change the timing of the presidential election and the voting rules, its legal basis and the hypothesis to change the interim. Forming a government or a sparse administration.

Opponents of interim Prime Minister Abdelhamid al-Dibiba, who is running for president at a Benghazi meeting, and forces controlling the country’s east, including Marshal Khalifa Habdar, failed in an attempt to seize Tripoli last year. Interior, Fathi Pachaka.

The political process, which began last year under the UN, is set to turn the tide of a decade of chaos and regional divisions between the country’s west and east since the fall of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

By the time he was appointed head of the interim government set up as part of the process, Abdelhamid al-Dibiba had promised not to run for president. His rivals believe he should not be a candidate because they believe he benefited from public funds to attract readers.

Other nominations are considered unacceptable by certain sections of the population, such as Saf al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Caliph Haftar or Muammar Gaddafi.

Security tensions in Tripoli, where armed groups have surrounded important official buildings since last week, illustrate the risks of a political crisis escalating military competition. (Ahmed Elumami Tripoli, Ayman al-Warfali Benghazi and Angus McDowell Tunis; French version by Jean Tersian)