European Forum

First ever national elections in Libya postponed

On Monday 4 June, Al Jazeera announced to have information that this month’s elections for a country assembly in Libya will be postponed until July. The first elections after the 32-year long presidency of Muammar Gaddafi were due to be held on June 19. The proclaimed reason for the delay is that the country is not yet ready to hold elections.

The election law - which is at the base of the elections and thereby the electoral form of Libya – was formed by the National Transition Council in January last year. In May, over 2.7 million Libyans registered nationwide to vote in an election for a Public National Conference. Two hundred representatives are to be elected and tasked with drafting the country's constitution.

The ratification process for the roughly 4,000 potential candidates was scheduled to be completed by June 6 but authorities say they need more time to check the candidates. Besides, printing and distributing the ballots across the country would take more time than calculated. Libya's former deputy election commissioner quit his post in May because he said he did not believe that the country would be ready for next month's elections.

The elections will now probably be held in the first week of July at the earliest.

Sources:
Al Jazeera
IBN Live

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Flickr by B.R.Q