Tripoli, 5 May:
In an interview broadcast yesterday Friday by Al Jazeera satellite news channel, Mustafa Abdul Jalil, head of Libya’s National . . .[restrict]Transitional Council (NTC), called on all Libyans to understand the stage that Libya is going through at this time and to take part in the forthcoming elections.
“I call on all Libyans to understand this stage that Libya is going through, and to go to their local registration stations and register so as to obtain the registration cards that would allow them to cast their votes in the ballot boxes this coming June”, the NTC head said.
Abdul Jalil added that the Transitional Constitutional Declaration that was announced more than a year ago included the promise of elections to the National Constitutional Congress, which would lead the country for a year, appoint a temporary government and a committee to drafta constitution.
The NTC head went on to say that all this would occur after eight months after Libya’s declaration of liberation. It was “not a long period of time”, but that it is “an effective period of time” in his view.
Libyans have until 14 May to visit their local registration centres to register themselves for the June poll. The centers are open from 9 am to 6pm and were even open yesterday Friday from 3-6 pm. Registration centres are usually marked with a distinctive orange banner outside.
To register you need your Family Book if you are the head of the family, as well as your ID card if you are not the family head. There are separate registration stations for women and men. It takes about five minutes for each person to be registered. Libyans who do not register by 14 May will not be able to vote on election day.
When Libya Herald visited the school in Hay Demashque near the Rixos Hotel and the NTC headquarters opposite, used as a registration centre, it was not very busy.
Staff there admitted that it has not been very busy but that in fact Friday was their busiest day so far.
There has been criticism of the authorities for not conducting a more effective publicity campaign to explain the election process to the general public and to encourage more participation.
For more information, Libyans are encouraged to visit the High National Election Commission website http://www.hnec.ly/ or the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/#!/libya.elections [/restrict]
