By Libya Herald staff.
Tripoli, 21 February, 2014:
The turnout in yesterday’s elections for the Constitutional Committee elections was 45 percent, the . . .[restrict]Higher National Elections Commission (HNEC) has said. But because of violence, disruptions and boycotts, 13 seats cannot be filled as yet.
A total of 497,663 of the 1.1 million people who registered to vote had done so, HNEC chairman Nuri Elabbar said at a press conference late last night. However, reports from twenty-nine centres in five Electoral regions were still awaited.
Violence, the fear of violence and blockades had prevented voting in 81 of the 1,577 polling centres, he said. They had either never opened or had to close. (A further 34 planned for Amazigh had never been activated in the first place because of the Amazigh boycott.)
There were 61 were in Owbari constituency, which included the two sub-constituencies of Owbari and Murzuk; 14 in Derna; three in the mainly Tebu areas of the Kufra sub-constituency, two in the Sebha sub-constituency, and one at the Sarir area of the Ajdabya constituency.
As a result, four seats in Murzuk (including one reserved Tebu seat), four in Obari (including one reserved Tuareg seat), two in Derna 2, and the reserved Tebu seat in Kufra 1. In addition, there are the two uncontested seats seat reserved for the Amazigh. There were no problems surrounding the reserved Tuareg seat in Ghadames; the vote there went smoothly, Elabbar stated.
Commenting on the violence in Derna which closed six polling centres (not five, as reported earlier), Elabbar paid tribute to local man Salem Attiya Boujidar Al-Mansouri who was murdered by militants when he tried to stop them breaking into a polling station at a school. He called him a martyr.
HNEC is legally required to state within 24 hours how, when and where alternative elections can be held to enable voters who were unable to participate to cast their votes and elect the 13 representatives, Elabbar said. An attempt would be made today, but if it were not possible the issue would have to be handed over to the General National Congress to resolve, either by appointment of the members of the committee or by other means.
Despite these problems, the polling had conducted as planned in the overwhelming majority of areas and had been an “historic event” in building the state, he said.
Votes cast in the 19 overseas centres where voting had taken place from 15 to 17 February were now starting in those centres, Elabbar added, and the results would be sent to HNEC.
The 45-percent turnout, although lower than hoped for, is seen as more than sufficient to avoid accusations that the Constitutional Committee has no legitimacy. However, the appointment of if not all the 13 seats, certainly almost all, is another matter. [/restrict]
