Libyans cast first post-Gaddafi vote

PanARMENIAN.Net - Libyans cast ballots Saturday, July 7 for a national assembly, the first election since Muammar Gaddafi's ouster, after a string of acts of sabotage that have stoked tensions in the east of the country, AFP reported.

In Tripoli, polling stations opened on schedule with queues of voters eager to elect the General National Congress, which will be at the helm of the country for a transition period.

In the eastern city of Benghazi, cradle of the uprising and heartland of elements threatening to derail the vote, polling stations also opened on time.

The vote may be a very different experience for residents of Tripoli, which has enjoyed a spell of calm than for those of cities in eastern Libya which have been rocked by acts of sabotage and threats to disrupt the vote. On Friday, gunfire struck a helicopter in eastern Libya killing an election worker.

Also in the run-up to the polls, five oil facilities have been forced cease production by gunmen who want greater representation for the east in the incoming 200-member congress.

Armed protesters on Sunday last week ransacked the office of the electoral commission in Benghazi. Arsonists in nearby Ajdabiya later set fire to a depot with polling material.

The make-up of the congress has been a matter of heated debate, with political factions such as the federalist movement calling for more seats.

The outgoing National Transitional Council (NTC) says seats were distributed according to demographic considerations, with 100 going to the west, 60 to the east and 40 to the south.

But factions in the east want an equal split of seats and have threatened to sabotage the vote if this demand is not met. The authorities dismiss such groups as a disruptive minority, pointing out that more than 2.7 million people, or about 80 percent of the eligible electorate, have registered to take part in the poll.

Libya has not seen elections since the era of late monarch King Idris, whom Gaddafi deposed in a bloodless coup in 1969.

Parties were banned as an act of treason during Gaddafi’s iron-fisted rule. Now there are 142 parties fielding candidates. A total of 80 seats are reserved for party candidates while 120 seats are open to individual candidates. Altogether, 3,707 candidates are running in 72 districts across the country.