Tripoli, 16 June:
Campaigning in the 7 July elections for the National Conference will begin on Monday, 18 June and finish on . . .[restrict]Thursday, 5 July. The announcement was made this afternoon by the head of the High National Elections Commission (HNEC), Nuri Elabbar.
He also announced that 2,501 individual candidates standing as independents had been approved after vetting as had 1,206 candidates standing under the party list system. A total of 142 parties are standing in the elections, he added.
One hundred and twenty seats in the 200-seat Conference are for individual candidates and 80 are for party list candidates. There are 13 constituencies, although in one of them, Gharian, all the candidates will be individuals; there will be no first-past-the-post party lists on offer there. The primary task facing those elected is to draw up a constitution for Libya but they will also be responsible for appointing a new prime minister and cabinet.
According to Ellabar, a total of 377 lists from the parties had been accepted.
Despite the postponement of the elections from 19 June to 7 July, there are still just two weeks for campaigning. As a result, there are fears this may not afford enough time for candidates to get their messages across and so enable voters to make an informed choice. [/restrict]
