By Michel Cousins.
Tripoli. 4 April 2014:
Municipal elections will be held in Benghazi and 15 other municipalities on . . .[restrict]16 April, it has been announced by the Central Committee for Municipal Council Elections (CCMCE). Campaigning starts today. The other constituencies include Ashwerif, Bir Ashhab, Brak Al-Shatti, Ghadames, Gurda Al-Shatti, Idra Al-Shatti, Jalu, Nalut and Wazin.
They make up the first of four groups totalling 63 municipalities that will elect municipal councils in April and May.
Voting in Group 2, with 21 municipalities including Ain Zara, Ajilat, Al-Jmail, Garabulli, Gubbah, Marj, Obari, Qatrun, Rajban, Reyayna, Rigdaleen, Swani, Tajoura, Emslata, Zawia West and Zuwara will take place on 26 April. As with Group 1, voter and candidate registration is now closed.
Group 3, with 20 municipalities including Sirte, Sebha, Janzour, Ajdabiya, Al-Abyar, Asbeih, Khoms, Kufra, Murzuk, Qaminis, Qasr Akhiar, Qasr Ben Gashir, Suq Al-Khamis, Tobruk, Zahra and Zliten will take place in 3 May.
Group 4 comprises just four new municipalities: Central Tripoli, Hay Andalous, Bu Sleem, and Suq Al-Juma. The voting will take place on 10 May.
Voter and candidate registration in the latter two groups has been extended.
The first round of municipal elections was held in 15 municipalities in November and the beginning of December.
Another municipal contest, in Bint Baya where there were problems, was subsequently run and final results were declared last month. The new municipal council yesterday and elected Hamza Massoud as its first ever mayor.
“We still preparing other municipal contests” said Otman Gajiji, Chairman of the CCMCE. “We’re very proud to have reached this stage. By mid-May, 77 municipal elections will have taken place. So far 800,000 people have registered to vote – 500,000 men and 300,000 women – and people are still registering in places such as Tripoli.”
CCMCE is working on training for staff who will be involved in the contests, especially on security.
The absolute necessity of ensuring the safety of voters and voting stations was demonstrated all too clearly yesterday when a gunman broke into a registration centre in Murzuk and wounded two staff members, one very seriously, damaging his kidneys.
The wounded man was flown to Tripoli and CCMCE is making plans to trafer him to Tunis if necessary. [/restrict]
