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| Africa North |
| Libyans Slow to Vote for New Parliament in Test for Transition |
| 2014-06-26 |
| Yada yada. By noon, only 200,000 had cast their vote, election officials said, blaming hot weather. Yada. Without a functioning government and parliament, Libya is struggling to impose authority over heavily-armed former rebels, militias and tribes that helped oust Gadhafi but who now defy state authority and carve out their own fiefdoms. Libya also has a budget crisis. Protests at oilfields and shipping ports by armed militias have reduced oil production, the country's lifeline, to a trickle. Tripoli's partners in the West hope the vote will help it to begin rebuilding a viable state. Its nascent army, still in training, is no match for fighters hardened during the eight-month uprising against Gadhafi. Many Libyans fear the vote will produce just another interim assembly. A special body to draft a new national constitution has still not finished its work, leaving questions over what kind of political system Libya will eventually adopt. Yada. Divisions need to be bridged between Libya's west, once favored by Gadhafi, and the neglected east where many demand autonomy and a greater share of the nation's oil wealth. The vast desert country has several power centers. The Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, rooted in rural western coastal cities, is vying with tribal areas in both the west and east for control of the oil producer. Electoral authorities tightened registration rules by requiring voters to show a national identification number, which many Libyans lack given the collapse of state services. The new parliament will again be made up of 200 seats, but will be called the House of Representatives. Thirty-two seats are allocated to women. Around 1,600 candidates were on the ballot, about 1,000 fewer than in the previous parliamentary vote. Some candidates put up street posters or platforms on social media, but the announcement of the election a month ago left little time before voting began, and there has been no real campaigning. |
| Posted by:Squinty |