Gaddafi willing to hold elections, claims son

LIBYA’S Muammar Gaddafi is willing to hold elections and step aside if he lost, his son said, an offer dismissed by rebels but which could test the unity of the Western alliance trying to force him out.

However, Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi Ali Al-Mahmoudi later appeared to question the potential concession, telling reporters: “I would like to correct (that) and say that the leader of the revolution is not concerned by any referendum.”

He added that there was no reason for the Libyan leader to step down in any case because he had not held any political or administrative role since 1977.

Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera: “They (elections) could be held within three months. At the maximum by the end of the year, and the guarantee of transparency could be the presence of international observers.”

He said his father, who came to power in the same year that man first set foot on the moon, would be ready to step aside if he lost the election though he would not go into exile.

The proposal — which follows a series of concessions offered by the Libyan leader that Western powers have dismissed as ploys — comes at a time when frustration is mounting in some NATO states at the progress of the military campaign.

Four months into Libya’s conflict, rebel advances toward Tripoli are slow at best, while weeks of NATO air strikes pounding Gaddafi’s compound and other targets have failed to end his 41-year-old rule.

The rebel leadership in the eastern stronghold of Benghazi dismissed the election offer as “wasting our time.”

Reuters