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By Callum Paton.
Tripoli, 11 February 2014:
Derna Local Council has said it will be unable to hold elections for the constitutional drafting . . .[restrict]committee unless security in the eastern town drastically improves.
Speaking on condition of anonymity a source close to the Local Council told the Libya Herald that, although it had not formally decided to cancel elections, this was looking increasingly likely. The move seemed inevitable, he said, because of almost daily assassinations and attacks on officials.
“It will be very difficult to say this in public but we would prefer not to hold them,” the source said. “The last elections were held under threats of violence and the situation is now worse. We do not need more bloodshed.”
Even if polling stations could be secured for the elections on 20 February, unless lasting security was ensured, he said, newly-elected committee members would become new targets.
He said the town’s security crisis was a clear sign for the government that Derna was no ordinary town. He added that its apparent inability to address the town’s problems was a great sign of weakness.
Former Attorney General Abdulaziz Al-Hassadi was murdered in Derna three days ago and local judge Halal Bufares wounded in an assassination attempt the previous day. Officials and members of local security forces have been targeted in the town over the last year. [/restrict]
