1.6 Million Libyans to Vote in 2018 Elections

Published December 28th, 2017 - 09:00 GMT
(AFP /Abdullah Doma)
(AFP /Abdullah Doma)

The number of Libyans registered to vote in 2018 presidential and parliamentary polls currently stands at some 1.6 million, according to the official Libyan News Agency (LNA).

Next year's elections are considered a critical component of a U.N.-sponsored roadmap for the troubled North African country's political future.

Libya's voter-registration process began on Dec. 6 and is scheduled to continue for another two months.

A date for the polls, however, has yet to be set.

Imad al-Saih, head of Libya's official electoral commission, has urged "all parties" to take part in the country's obstacle-prone electoral process.  

"The commission is not biased towards or against any particular party," LNA quoted al-Saih as saying on Wednesday.  

When Libya held its last parliamentary poll in 2014, some 1.5 million Libyans registered to cast ballots.  

The U.N.'s Libya roadmap, endorsed in October by the U.N. Security Council, calls for both parliamentary and presidential polls to be held next year. 

Libya has remained dogged by political uncertainty since 2011, when a bloody uprising led to the ouster and death of strongman Muammar Gaddafi after more than four decades in power. 

The ensuing power vacuum led to the emergence of several rival seats of government, including one in Tobruk and another in Tripoli, and a plethora of heavily-armed militia groups.

 

 

This article has been adapted from its original source.

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