Tripoli, 6 July:
There will be no postponement of tomorrow’s national elections in either Kufra or Ajdabiya despite local circumstances, the head . . .[restrict]of the High National Election Commission (HNEC), Nuri Elabbar, told a press conference in Tripoli this afternoon, Friday.
Earlier this week officials in Kufra, including the head of the Military Council, called for elections there to be postponed because of the clashes there and the resulting departure of 60 percent of the town’s population.
On Thursday, the local HNEC offices is Ajdabiya were attacked by federalists and ballot papers destroyed.
According to Elabbar, 10 of the 12 polling stations in Kufra were ready for tomorrow’s elections. The other two were in Tebu-contolled areas of the town but agreement had been made with Tebu leaders and they would be made ready by the morning, he said.
In the case of Ajdabiya, he said that a plane had been chartered to bring fresh ballot papers from the printers in Dubai and would be landing this evening.
Asked by Libya Herald if there was a Plan B in case of any further attack or if anything else went wrong, he said that security was a matter for the interior and defence ministries but that if there were attacks that forced the closure of polling stations, the vote would be held again later.
At the press coinference, Elabber paid tribute to the 22-year-old volunteer Abdullah Al-Barassi who killed when the helicopter he was travelling in came under from suspected federalists. It was on its way to Tocra to deliver ballot papers. [/restrict]
