By Seraj Essul.
Tripoli, 20 May 2014:
Councillors were sworn in and then mayors elected for six more new municipalities yesterday at a . . .[restrict]ceremony at Tripoli’s Waddan Hotel overseen by the Acting Minister of Local Government, Salah Said, and Othman Gajiji, Chairman of the Central Committee for Municipal Council Elections (CCMCE). Elders from the respective municipalities and members of their outgoing local councils attended along with families. The event was also open to the public
Eight municipal councils were supposed to have taken part, but members of the Jalu Municipal Council were unable to make the trip.
Six of the new mayors stood unopposed and were thus automatically elected. They were:
Tajoura: Hussein Al-Zaroug Taha
Al-Ghareyfa: Ali Abu Bakr
Zawia West: Abdul Karim Al-Abah
Garabulli: Hussein Bugnema
Gourda Al-Shatti : Hassan Al-Mansouri
Al-Bowanis: Abdul Rahman Hijez
For Idri-Al-Shatti Municipal Council, there were two candidates for the post of mayor, thus necessitating a ballot of the seven councillors. The vote was won by Sami Masaoud who had four votes to his opponent’s three.
The ceremony was disrupted briefly when a disgruntled, unsuccessful candidate from Gourda Al-Shatti took to the stage and complained to attendees that she had not been able to appeal the results of the election in her area. She was told she would be able to stand again and eventually left the stage.
Elections have now taken place in the vast majority of Libya’s new municipalities. On Saturday, they took place four of the Tripoli municipalities. So far, however, only a handful of have arrived at the point where the new councils are up and running and mayors are in place. That is because of delays in announcing who was elected. It is hoped, though, that this will now quickly change. [/restrict]
