Libya Presidential, Parliamentary Elections to Take Place before September

Imad al-Sayeh, head of the High National Election Commission, gestures during a news conference with Ghassan Salameh, UN special representative for Libya. (Reuters)
Imad al-Sayeh, head of the High National Election Commission, gestures during a news conference with Ghassan Salameh, UN special representative for Libya. (Reuters)
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Libya Presidential, Parliamentary Elections to Take Place before September

Imad al-Sayeh, head of the High National Election Commission, gestures during a news conference with Ghassan Salameh, UN special representative for Libya. (Reuters)
Imad al-Sayeh, head of the High National Election Commission, gestures during a news conference with Ghassan Salameh, UN special representative for Libya. (Reuters)

The upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections will be held before September 30, 2018 according to the UN proposed road map, Head of Libya's Election Commission Imad al-Sayeh confirmed on Sunday.

"The voters' registration process is going well and around one million voters have already been registered as the number is increasing," he said.

"All Libyans are entitled to participate as long as they have a national number," he told Xinuha, confirming that supporters and officials of the former regime are also entitled to take part in the upcoming elections.

"So far, there is no law that determines the conditions for candidates. We are waiting for such a law to be approved," he added.

"According to the UN-proposed action plan, everyone can participate in the elections and there are no labeling or classifications," Sayeh explained, when asked about the possibility for Seif Islam Gadhafi, son of the former leader Moammar Gadhafi, to run in the elections.

For his part, Egypt’s presidential spokesman Bassam Radi called on the need to hold presidential elections in Libya this year and limit itself to these periods of transition.

Radi said in a statement that his country supports the unity of the Libyan territories, the reunification of the Libyans and the extension of security and stability in the cuontry, referring to what he described as Egypt’s great role through its support of the Libyan institutions, starting with the military.

He also stressed that Egypt has always supported the central government and the national army of any government, and it is opposed to all armed militias as it neither recognizes nor helps them.

The Egyptian position always supports citizenship, and stands against ethnic and sectarian division, Radi stressed.

Head of UN Support Mission in Libya, Ghassan Salameh, in September proposed an action plan to end the Libyan political crisis.

The plan includes amendment of the current Libyan political agreement and holding parliamentary and presidential elections.



Iraq's Parliament Elects Al-Halbousi as Its New Speaker

 The new speaker of parliament Haibet Al-Halbousi, center, looks on before the start of their first legislative session in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
The new speaker of parliament Haibet Al-Halbousi, center, looks on before the start of their first legislative session in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
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Iraq's Parliament Elects Al-Halbousi as Its New Speaker

 The new speaker of parliament Haibet Al-Halbousi, center, looks on before the start of their first legislative session in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
The new speaker of parliament Haibet Al-Halbousi, center, looks on before the start of their first legislative session in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iraq's parliament on Monday elected a new speaker following overnight talks to break a political deadlock.

Haibet Al-Halbousi received 208 votes from the 309 legislators who attended, according to The AP news. He is a member of the Takadum, or Progress, party led by ousted speaker and relative Mohammed al-Halbousi. Twenty legislators did not attend the session.

Iraq held parliamentary elections in November but didn’t produce a bloc with a decisive majority. By convention, Iraq’s president is always Kurdish, while the more powerful prime minister is Shiite and the parliamentary speaker is Sunni.

The new speaker must address a much-debated bill that would have the Hashd al-Shaabi, or Popular Mobilization Units become a formal security institution under the state. Iran-backed armed groups have growing political influence.

Al-Halbousi also must tackle Iraq’s mounting public debt of tens of billions of dollars as well as widespread corruption.

Babel Governor Adnan Feyhan was elected first deputy speaker with 177 votes, a development that might concern Washington. Feyhan is a member of the Asaib Ahl al-Haq, or League of the Righteous, a US-sanctioned, Iran-backed group with an armed wing led by Qais al-Khazali, also sanctioned by Washington.


Hamas Armed Wing Confirms Spokesman Killed by Israel in August

FILE Photo of Hamas now late spokesperson Abu Ubaida. (Screengrab from al-Qassam brigades video)
FILE Photo of Hamas now late spokesperson Abu Ubaida. (Screengrab from al-Qassam brigades video)
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Hamas Armed Wing Confirms Spokesman Killed by Israel in August

FILE Photo of Hamas now late spokesperson Abu Ubaida. (Screengrab from al-Qassam brigades video)
FILE Photo of Hamas now late spokesperson Abu Ubaida. (Screengrab from al-Qassam brigades video)

Hamas' armed wing confirmed on Monday the death of its spokesperson, Abu Obeida, months after Israel announced that he had been killed in an air strike in Gaza.

Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades released a video statement on its Telegram channel, saying: "We pause in reverence before... the masked man loved by millions... the great martyred commander and spokesperson of the Qassam Brigades, Abu Obeida", AFP reported.

Israel had announced it had killed Abu Obeida in a strike on Gaza on August 30.

Born on February 11, 1985, and raised in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, Abu Obeida joined Hamas at an early age before becoming a member of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades.

He later became the group's sole spokesman, delivering video statements in military uniform with his face consistently concealed by a red keffiyeh. He had been the target of multiple Israeli assassination attempts.

According to Hamas officials, Abu Obeida embodied what they describe as "resistance" and was known for fiery and impactful speeches, many of which included threats against Israel or announcements of military operations.

"For many years, only a very small circle of Hamas officials knew his true identity," a Hamas official told AFP.

Israel has decimated Hamas's leadership, saying it seeks to eradicate the group following Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the war.

The video announcing Abu Obeida's death was delivered by a masked man dressed in the former spokesperson's distinctive style, who said he would adopt his predecessor's name for future statements.

In the same video, he also announced the deaths of four other Hamas commanders in Israeli attacks during the war.

 

 

 

 


Iraq’s Newly Elected Parliament Holds First Session

A view of the Iraqi Parliament building in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (AP)
A view of the Iraqi Parliament building in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (AP)
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Iraq’s Newly Elected Parliament Holds First Session

A view of the Iraqi Parliament building in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (AP)
A view of the Iraqi Parliament building in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Dec. 29, 2025. (AP)

Iraq's newly elected parliament convened ​on Monday for its first session since the November national election, opening the ‌way for ‌lawmakers ‌to begin ⁠the ​process ‌of forming a new government.

Parliament is due to elect a speaker and ⁠two deputies ‌during its first meeting. ‍

Lawmakers ‍must then ‍choose a new president by within 30 days of ​the first session.

The president will subsequently ⁠ask the largest bloc in parliament to form a government, a process that in Iraq typically drags on for ‌months.