TRIPOLI -- Libya has announced that elections for a constituent
assembly, the country's first national vote after four decades of
dictatorship under toppled leader Moammar Gadhafi, have been postponed
to July 7.
The election had originally been slated to be held by June 19.
"The date for the elections will be July 7," the president of the
electoral commission, Mr. Nuri al-Abbar, told a news conference in
Tripoli Sunday, citing "logistical and technical" reasons for the
delay.
The vote was postponed due to a delay in adopting a law to organise
the elections, in order to give voters more time to register and to
allow candidates who have been ruled out by the commission to appeal
the decision, Mr. Abbar said.
He said the commission started its duties Feb. 12 which gave it only
"128 days to prepare the elections.. a very short time, especially for
a country that hasn't seen elections for almost half a century."
Abbar added that a note was sent on Sunday to the ruling National
Transitional Council to explain the decision to delay the vote.
A member of the electoral commission said the postponement had been
decided in consultation with UN officials working with the commission
who had "proposed a date during the first week in July."
More than 2.7 million Libyans, or around 80% of eligible voters, have
registered to participate in the election.
The ruling National Transitional Council, having declared the
country's "liberation" three days after the October 20 capture and
killing of Gadhafi, launched a roadmap to a new Libya with a 20-month
countdown to elections.
A transitional government was to organise within eight months the
election of a 200-member assembly, or "general national congress." The
NTC is to step down once the congress holds its first session.
Dozens of political parties, which were banned under Gadhafi's
iron-grip rule as a "Western invention", have been founded in the
months ahead of the Libyan elections.
A total of 120 seats on the assembly are reserved for independents,
with the rest open to contest by political associations.
On June 3, the commission instructed the 4,000 candidates who hope to
run in the polls not to launch campaigning before a date is announced.
On Friday, the European Union said it has deployed an election
assessment team to Libya ahead of the polls, which EU foreign policy
chief Catherine Ashton has described as a "crucial step in the ongoing
transition."
Meanwhile a Libyan official said Sunday that an Australian lawyer
detained after meeting Seif al-Islam, the detained son of slain
dictator Gadhafi, was being investigated for the crime of spying.
Australian Melinda Taylor was part of a four-person team from the
International Criminal Court.
The ICC said in a statement on Saturday that all four had been
detained after the meeting.
But Mr. Ahmed Jehani, Libya's envoy to the international tribunal,
said that only two members of the team, Ms. Taylor and her Lebanese
interpreter Helen Assaf, were in detention while two men, a Russian
and a Spanish national, had stayed behind out of their own accord.
The ICC wants to try both Mr. al-Islam, 39, and his late father's
spymaster, Mr. Abdullah Senussi, for crimes against humanity committed
while trying to put down last year's bloody revolt.
But the new regime in Libya wants to put Mr. al-Islam on trial in a
local court.
Gadhafi was captured and killed by rebel forces on October 20 as his
regime collapsed.
Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr Monday said he had spoken to a
senior Libyan minister over the detention, expressing hope that Ms.
Taylor would be released soon.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 10, 2012 23:55 ET (03:55 GMT)
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