Libya gears up for 1st democratic vote

The vote will take place on Saturday for the election of members of a General National Congress, which will appoint a new government and a panel to draft a new constitution, AFP reported on Thursday

The National Transitional Council (NTC), which has ruled Libya since Gaddafi’s ouster year, must step down once the congress holds its first session.

The vote, which had originally been slated to be held by June 19, is the North African nation’s first nationwide elections since the 1960s as Gaddafi had banned political parties and elections.

More than 2.7 million people, or around 80 percent of the eligible electorate, have registered to take part in the elections.

The members of the 200-seat congress will be elected from among over 2,500 independent candidates and more than 140 political entities.

The constitution, which requires endorsement in a national referendum, will focus on such key issues as the form of governance, women’s role in the society, and the rights of minorities.

Earlier in the day, the NTC said that the main source of legislation in the country should be Islamic sharia.

“The Libyan people are attached to Islam as a religion and legislation,” NTC spokesman Saleh Darhoub was quoted as reading from a statement.

“As such, the National Transitional Council recommends that the [next] congress make sharia the main source of legislation. And this should not be subject to a referendum,” he told journalists in Tripoli.

Libya became the scene of anti-Gaddafi protests in mid-February 2011. The revolution witnessed intense confrontation between government troops and opposition fighters.

Gaddafi was killed by Libyan revolutionaries in his hometown of Sirte, located 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of the capital Tripoli, on October 20, eight months into the revolution that put an end to his 42-year-long dictatorship.

PG/KA/MN/HN

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