[ 2012-07-08 ]

Liberals claim early lead in Libya vote count
TRIPOLI (AFP) - Liberals claimed an early lead on
Sunday in counting of votes across the country
after Libya's first free elections following the
overthrow of dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

"Early reports show that the coalition is leading
the polls in the majority of constituencies," the
secretary general of the National Forces Alliance,
Faisal Krekshi, told AFP.

The alliance of liberal forces is headed by Mahmud
Jibril who played a prominent role as rebel prime
minister during the popular revolt that toppled
Kadhafi last year.

The leader of one of Libya's main Islamist parties
acknowledged that the rival coalition had the
advantage in the country's two largest cities.

"The National Forces Alliance achieved good
results in some large cities except Misrata. They
have a net lead in Tripoli and in Benghazi," said
Mohammed Sawan, who heads the Justice and
Construction party.

"But it is a tight race for us in the south,"
added Sawan, a former political prisoner and
member of Libya's Muslim Brotherhood, which
launched the party.

The bulk of Libya's population and registered
voters are concentrated in the capital, which lies
in the west of the oil-rich desert country, and in
the eastern city of Benghazi.

Libyans on Saturday voted for a General National
Congress, a 200-member legislative assembly which
will steer the country through a transition
period. Turnout was above 60 percent, the
electoral commission said.

A total of 80 seats in the incoming congress are
reserved for political entities while the
remaining 120 are held for individual candidates,
some of who are openly allied to specific
parties.

Altogether, 3,707 candidates stood in 72 districts
nationwide.

Sawan told AFP the results were mixed in terms of
which party was performing better at the polls
when it comes down to allies and sympathisers who
are running as individual candidates.

Votes were still being tallied by Libya's
electoral commission with preliminary results
expected by Monday night.

The world is waiting to see whether Libya, a
conservative Muslim country with no significant
minorities, will deliver a win for Islamists like
in neighbouring Egypt and Tunisia.

From the parties, the National Forces coalition
and two Islamist contenders, Justice and
Construction and Al-Wattan, stood out from the
start.

But early reports by local media seemed to back
the party leaders' claims.

Private channel Al-Assima TV reported overnight
that the coalition was well ahead in the capital,
scooping 80 percent in the district of Tripoli
Centre, and 90 percent in the impoverished
district of Abu Slim.

Its edge, the channel said, was also sharp in the
troubled east, with preliminary figures giving it
70 percent in Benghazi and 80 percent in Al-Bayda,
hometown of Libya's interim leader Mustafa Abdel
Jalil.

These figures, however, were unofficial.

"The first winner is the Libyan people," declared
a beaming Nuri Abbar, head of the electoral
commission, at the end of a rollercoaster voting
day which was briefly clouded by unrest in the
east of the country.

Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, who heads a team of 21
European Union observers, said large numbers voted
"peacefully and free of fear and intimidation,
despite some disturbances in the east and some
tensions in the south."

"The election, however, is far from over.
Counting, tallying and the publication of results
are the other important steps in this electoral
process," Lambsdorff cautioned.

The make-up of the congress being elected has been
a matter of heated debate, with factions such as
the federalist movement in the east calling for
more seats and staging acts of sabotage both
before and during the elections.

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

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

Political parties were banned as an act of treason
during Kadhafi's iron-fisted rule. On Saturday,
142 parties fielded candidates.

Source - AFP

... go Back