International observers hail Libyan poll as huge success
Source: Agencies |
July 10, 2012, Tuesday
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INTERNATIONAL observers declared Libya's landmark national assembly election a success yesterday, concluding that violent incidents and protests in the restive east failed to stop Libyans from turning out in big numbers.
The United Nations, United States and other Western backers of last year's uprising that ended the 42-year rule of Moammar Gadhafi have already given good marks to what was the North African state's first free national election in six decades.
"It is remarkable that nearly all Libyans cast their ballot free from fear or intimidation," Alexander Graf Lambsdorff of the European Union Assessment Team told a news conference.
"These incidents do not put into question the national integrity of the elections as a whole," he said, alluding to cases of thefts and burnings of ballot boxes and protests by demonstrators seeking more autonomy for Libya's east. Two people were reported killed in the unrest.
The EU team toured half a dozen major cities, including the capital Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi, the fount of the uprising, but did not go to the desert south, where security is precarious because of tribal clashes.
The US-based Carter Center said its 45-strong observation team was also absent from the south and acknowledged that its operation for Saturday's election had been somewhat limited.
"Eleven months after the building on a new nation, there are bound to be spoilers ... Libyans determined to continue with the voting process is what gives us hope for the future," said John Stremlau, the center's vice president of peace programs.
Nearly 1.8 million of 2.8 million registered voters cast their ballots, a turnout of around 65 percent, authorities said.
Official results were to be published district by district later. Local media have suggested that a party bloc led by wartime prime minister Mahmoud Jibril is leading Islamic groups such as the political wing of Libya's Muslim Brotherhood.
However, it could be premature to suggest that outcome in itself breaks with a trend toward Islamic parties gaining power in other Arab Spring countries, including Egypt and Tunisia.
The Western-educated Jibril rejects the labels of secular and liberal and says sharia (Islamic law) is one of the principles of the alliance. On Sunday he offered to form a grand coalition with all political forces in Libya.
Moreover, parties have only been allotted 80 out of 200 seats in an assembly whose task is to name a prime minister and cabinet before readying parliamentary elections in 2013 on the basis of a yet-to-be-drafted constitution. The remaining 120 seats will go to independent candidates.
"We have no way of knowing yet how they will align themselves," said Hanan Salah of Human Rights Watch, noting that justice sector reform, women's rights and freedom of expression would be litmus tests of the next leadership's real stance.
The United Nations, United States and other Western backers of last year's uprising that ended the 42-year rule of Moammar Gadhafi have already given good marks to what was the North African state's first free national election in six decades.
"It is remarkable that nearly all Libyans cast their ballot free from fear or intimidation," Alexander Graf Lambsdorff of the European Union Assessment Team told a news conference.
"These incidents do not put into question the national integrity of the elections as a whole," he said, alluding to cases of thefts and burnings of ballot boxes and protests by demonstrators seeking more autonomy for Libya's east. Two people were reported killed in the unrest.
The EU team toured half a dozen major cities, including the capital Tripoli and the eastern city of Benghazi, the fount of the uprising, but did not go to the desert south, where security is precarious because of tribal clashes.
The US-based Carter Center said its 45-strong observation team was also absent from the south and acknowledged that its operation for Saturday's election had been somewhat limited.
"Eleven months after the building on a new nation, there are bound to be spoilers ... Libyans determined to continue with the voting process is what gives us hope for the future," said John Stremlau, the center's vice president of peace programs.
Nearly 1.8 million of 2.8 million registered voters cast their ballots, a turnout of around 65 percent, authorities said.
Official results were to be published district by district later. Local media have suggested that a party bloc led by wartime prime minister Mahmoud Jibril is leading Islamic groups such as the political wing of Libya's Muslim Brotherhood.
However, it could be premature to suggest that outcome in itself breaks with a trend toward Islamic parties gaining power in other Arab Spring countries, including Egypt and Tunisia.
The Western-educated Jibril rejects the labels of secular and liberal and says sharia (Islamic law) is one of the principles of the alliance. On Sunday he offered to form a grand coalition with all political forces in Libya.
Moreover, parties have only been allotted 80 out of 200 seats in an assembly whose task is to name a prime minister and cabinet before readying parliamentary elections in 2013 on the basis of a yet-to-be-drafted constitution. The remaining 120 seats will go to independent candidates.
"We have no way of knowing yet how they will align themselves," said Hanan Salah of Human Rights Watch, noting that justice sector reform, women's rights and freedom of expression would be litmus tests of the next leadership's real stance.
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