By Umar Khan.
Tripoli, 10 November:
The Tripoli Local Council (TLC) elections scheduled for 18 November are to be delayed for at least . . .[restrict]two more weeks according to the spokesperson of the independent electoral committee, Fawzia Masri.
Fawzia told the Libya Herald that the delay is for technical reasons as the lists of the candidates and voters are still not ready.
“The final decision will be made by the committee in tomorrow’s meeting but it will most likely be 5 December. The lists for the candidates and voters are being prepared and will be ready very soon. We don’t want to rush things as we want it to be perfectly organised. The electoral committee will give a press conference to announce the decision after the meeting.”
The electoral committee has registered 200,000 voters, out of a total population close to 1.1 million, whilst 300 candidates have submitted their nomination papers for the elections.
If rescheduled, this will be third time that TLC elections would have been delayed. Earlier this year the electoral committee under the chairman Salah Tabagh was sacked because of the slow progress and election delays.
Civil society organisations and the TLC have also called a meeting tomorrow to discuss the performance of the electoral committee, especially after the dismal registration of the voters and delay in releasing the final lists of both the voters and the candidates. [/restrict]