Taziz Hasairi and Sami Zaptia.
Tripoli, 1 January 2014:
Holding a press conference to mark the end of the SMS voter registration phase . . .[restrict]for the constitutional elections, HNEC head Nuri Elabbar said that Libyans could still vote in person in ten days’ time.
Elabbar revealed that 649 candidates had applied to stand in the constitutional elections, of which 575 were accepted with 54 women, 14 Tebu and 6 Tuareg. There are no Amazigh registered to take part due to their boycott of these elections.
Elabbar then explained that there would be a period for “adding and editing” from 11-16 January during which people could register or change their polling stations in person, and not via SMS.
He felt that there were many students taking exams currently and that this brief personal registration period would give them an opportunity to register.
The HNEC head revealed that the elections would probably take place in the middle of February and that it would be the GNC that would decide on the final election date.
With regards to the non-participation of the ethnic Amazigh minority, Elabbar said that it was possible to have a subsequent election involving the Amazigh.
On the issue of security, Elabbar said that it had not been decided yet as to exactly who would handle security for the elections.
With regards to what number of registered voters would be considered enough to make the elections legitimate, the HNEC head said that there was no minimum number of required voters registered.
In contrast, it is worth noting that in the July 2012 GNC elections, of the estimated 3.3 million eligible voters, 2.866 million Libyans registered to vote; of which 45 percent were women.
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