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By Umar Khan.
Tarhouna, 29 June:
A meeting was held in Cultural Centre of Tarhouna on 26 June to ask all the candidates . . .[restrict]running in the 7 July elections to nominate their representatives and observers responsible for visiting different polling stations on their behalf to ensure transparency on polling day.
The meeting was hosted by the representative of the electoral high commission for Tarhouna, Ali Abdul Majeed.
The meeting was attended by a majority of the candidates in Tarhouna. Abdul Majeed briefed the audience about the importance of nominating their representatives and explained the laws of campaigning. He also answered the questions of the attendees regarding the financial ceiling and the security of the voting centers.
Answering one question about security on election day, Majeed said “It is the responsibility of all candidates to discourage the use of weapons by anybody, in particular their own supporters. Otherwise it will have a big effect on the turnout”.
Tarhouna has two independent seats and three seats for the party lists. The total number of registered voters is 51,763 out of whom 17,876 are women. 720 employees of the electoral commission will work on 36 polling stations.
Abdul Majeed told the Libya Herald that he expects the elections will not be disrupted by anybody as the vast majority of the Libyan people want to move on and the high figures of voters registered demonstrated that fact. “People have accepted the whole electoral process with open heart, they were not even aware of the meaning of the word democracy, but now they are learning fast.”
When asked if he thinks the tribal affliation will play an important role in determine the results of the elections, Abdul Majeed said “Tribes will play a big part as it’s just the first elections but as soon as the people gain experience, they will vote for the candidate of their own choice.”
The campaigning in Tarhouna is now in full flow and the streets are full of electoral material. The main square houses more than a dozen boards for different candidates. The different parties are trying to hold public events regularly in different areas in efforts to spread their name and party’s message.
One of the students present in the meetings of different parties complained that the manifestos of the candidates list dozens of aims and goals, forgetting the fact that the elections are for the national congress and not the general assembly. “I also have this message for the candidates”, he said. “You will only get our vote if you actually come onto the streets and speak to us, rather than just putting up photos throughout the city”.
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