By Ahmed Elumami.
Tripoli, 12 January 2014:
The first ever election of mayors in Libya took place yesterday, in Beida and . . .[restrict]Shahat. Ali Hussain Mohamed Abubakr was elected mayor of Beida and Idris Abdulmajeed Abdullah Belhussain mayor of Shahat by the respective new municipal councils.
Both elections were supervised by the Central Committee for Municipal Council Elections (CCMCE) chaired by Otman Gajiji.
There have been no mayors in Libya since the time of the monarchy, but even then they were appointed by the prime minister, not elected.
In Beida, the election was attended by Beida Congress members, government officials and members of the outgoing local council.
“Abubakr had four votes out of seven during a ceremony which took place in the Marhaba Hotel,” Salem Bu Rabha, a member of the local council, told the Libya Herald.
Abdullah Amtwal Ali Younis, the oldest member of the new municipal council, was elected deputy mayor.
Bu Rabha added that Abubakr had been asked to form a committee within two or three days to oversee the transfer of power from the local council and municipal council.
The members of Beida Municipal Council are:
- Ali Hussain Mohamed Abubakr, Mayor
- Abdullah Amtwal Ali Younis, Deputy Mayor
- Ali Idris Mohamed Al-Traiki, Member
- Mousa Mohamed Mutah, Member
- Ali Abdulali Belqasem Hamrri, Member
- Fawzia Ali Younis, Female Member
- Sulaiman Mohamed Sulaiman Shuaib, Wounded Revolutionary Member
In Shahat, where the outgoing local council as well as Congress members and government officials attended a similar election ceremony, the Municipal Council members are:
- Idris Abdulmajeed Abdullah Belhussain, Mayor
- Saleh Ali Mohamed Aubaidallah, Member
- Hussain Mahmoud Hussain Buqhraiwisha, Member
- Othman Fadeel Al-Mayar, Member
- Salah Abdulraheem Al-Mabrouk Mousa, Member
- Jamila Saleh Mohamed Abdurabah, Female Member
- Samir Mohamed Ibryak Tratish, Injured Revolutionary Member
Gajiji told this paper that in both towns the final results had been fully accepted locally. “People were very welcoming. The election of the mayor was a happy occasion in both places,“ he said, adding that he was looking forward to finishing the process in the other municipalities where elections have already taken place.
The reason for the delay was that after the results had been declared, the names had to be sent for verification to the Public Officials Standards Commission set up under the Political Isolation Law to purge the system of officials who worked in key positions for the Qaddafi regime.
“Only after approval of from the Commission will the composition of the new municipal councils be announced,” Gajiji explained. If the Commission approved the winners, then the CCMCE would publicise the list; if not the runners up would be selected.
He expected the members of Ghariyan and Zintan Municipal Councils to be declared in the next few days.
Once the new municipal councils take office, they are due to receive government funding. [/restrict]
