By Ashraf Abdul-Wahab.
Tripoli, 29 November 2013:
Everything is ready for the first municipal elections tomorrow in Bint Baya, according to the chairman . . .[restrict]of the local municipality elections committee, Ali Zein.
Bent Baya, halfway between Owbari and Sebha, is one of the 90 new municipalities that are to replace local councils. The first slate of the municipal elections will also be held tomorrow in Beida, Shahat and Tazerbu.
Next Saturday they will be held in Awjila, Traghen, Wadi Itba and Zintan.
The new Bint Baya municipal council, like almost all planned municipal council in the country, is scheduled to consist of seven councillors – five ordinary members, a woman and a war-wounded revolutionary. However, tomorrow’s elections will be held of only six seats because there are no candidates for the seat reserved for a war-wounded revolutionary.
There are 21 candidates, including two women.
All the equipment, Zein said, is at the polling stations which will be open between 8am and 8pm. There will also be local observers from civil society institutions to monitor the poll and, later, the count which will be done at a single location.
As to security, Zein said that the committee was coordinating with the relevant authorities. He hoped that all the registered voters would participate in the “historic” event.
The number of registered voters in Bint Baya is 9,900. [/restrict]
