By Taziz Hasairi.
Tripoli, 21 January 2014:
As registration for the . . .[restrict]60-member committee draws to a close, the public relations director for the Higher National Election Commission (HNEC), Hussam Zagaar, said he had expected a higher turn-out.
With registration for elections to the 60-member Committee closed in Libya but still open overseas, there are currently 1,101,025 individuals registered to vote, just over a third of the number who voted in the 2012 general election.
In an effort to boost numbers, HNEC had postponed the deadline for registration several times and also reintroduced SMS voter registration.
Zagaar told the Libya Herald that, considering the national mood at the moment, the number was very good. However, he said that he had expected higher levels of registration for the elections and felt let down by what he said was a lack of support by the media, civil society organisations (CSOs) and government ministries. When it became evident how few people were registering, he said, the Ministries of Culture and Islamic Affairs, the media and CSOs tried to be more supportive but, by that time, it was too late.
The HNEC has deferred to the General National Congress to set a date for elections to the 60-member Committee, although it is expected that these will be held sometime next month. At a recent meeting of the HNEC with the French ambassador to Libya, Antoine Sivan, the commission’s President Nuri Al-Abbar and other delegates expressed the HNEC’s readiness for the elections. [/restrict]
