Libyans Collect Voter Cards Ahead Of December Elections

Millions of Libyans have started collecting their voters card in various electoral commission offices across the country.

Libya on Monday stepped up preparations for landmark elections, opening registration for candidates in presidential and parliamentary polls as the country seeks to move on from a decade of war

Expectations are reportedly high as over 2.8 million of Libya’s seven million residents have registered to vote in the upcoming general elections.

Both presidential and parliamentary elections are slated for December 24, but in early October, parliament split the dates of the vote by postponing legislative elections until January.

However, foreign powers have been pushing hard for both elections to be still held on the same date, as agreed at UN-led talks last year.

Libya’s first-ever direct presidential poll, with a first-round on December 24, is the climax of a process launched last year by the United Nations to draw a line under years of violence since the revolt that toppled dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

But despite a year of relative peace following a ceasefire between eastern and western camps, the process has been overshadowed by wrangling over the legal basis for the votes and the powers of whoever wins.

That has sparked fears of a return to violence in the event of a contested result.