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By Libya Herald staff.
6 December 2014:
Gunmen have prevented the election of the new mayor of Sirte. They seized members of a . . .[restrict]sub-committee from the Central Committee for Municipal Council Elections who were on their way to Sirte to supervise the vote by the new council members.
The action took place on Thursday, a CCMCE official told the Libya Herald. The aim, he believed, was to prevent the election going ahead. The official did not, however, say who had seized the members who were released at 8pm the same same day.
Sirte’s council elections took place at the beginning of May and Abubakr Khalifa Al-Jalaat, who topped the poll with 2,477 was expected to be elected mayor. The town is seen as still retaining a strong loyalty to Qaddafi who was born there and who in his final days declared it the capital of Libya. It is, however, increasingly dominated by Islamists said to be part of Ansar Al-Sharia which has a training camp nearby.
Meanwhile, polling stations for municipal council elections in Sirte neighbouring municipalities of Harawa and Khalij Sidra (Gulf of Sidra), are due to open today.
Elections will also beheld in Brega, Murada (120 kilometres south of El Agheila), Darj (near Ghadames), and Tokra.
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