TRIPOLI
Election officials work in the operations rooms of the High National Elections Commission after elections yesterday in Tripoli, June 26, 2014.
Credit: Reuters/Ismail Zitouny
(Reuters) – Libya will announce results of last month’s parliamentary elections on July 20, the head of the elections commission said on Sunday, pushing back the results another week.
Fewer than half of registered Libyans voted, reflecting disillusionment with the chaos prevailing since Gaddafi’s overthrow. The government and outgoing parliament have failed to produce security and curb militias who helped oust Gaddafi but now defy state authority.
The North African oil producer elected on June 25 a new assembly in a vote marred by a low turnout and violence, opening a new chapter in Libya’s bumpy transition toward democracy since the 2011 fall of Muammar Gaddafi to an armed uprising.
Emad Sayeh, head of the High National Election Commission, said final results would be announced on July 20. Partial results from some cities have been published but Sayeh said the commission needed more time to produce accurate results.
Results from 24 polling stations are being withheld because of some “illegal acts”, he said, adding that out of 1,751 candidates 41 had been disqualified under a law banning former officials in the Gaddafi regime from taking a public office.
Sayeh also said the commission was still waiting for the old assembly to organize a new vote in constituencies where polling stations remained closed on election day due for security reasons.
(Reporting by Ahmed Elumami; Editing by Ulf Laessing and Ralph Boulton)
