Libya puts back election date by 18 days

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Reuters in Tripoli
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 10 June 2012 18.27 BST

Libya's first election in more than half a century will take place 18 days later than planned because of logistical challenges, the electoral commission has said .

The election will now take place on 7 July. Nuri al-Abbar, head of the electoral commission, said crucial preparations for the election – including voter registration and vetting candidates to make sure they had no links to Muammar Gaddafi – had run over schedule, making it impossible to hold the vote on the original date of 19 June.

"We never planned on postponing the election, we worked hard for the election to be on time," Abbar said. "I don't want to blame anybody for the postponement, I just want to make sure the elections are transparent."

The election will be a milestone for Libya as it seeks to build democratic institutions after last year's revolt. It has no functioning bureaucracy, poor security and only a distant memory of holding nationwide elections.

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Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/10/libya-postpones-election-date

[riderinthestorm]

1. Ugh, not a good sign. With about a week til election day, they suddenly post-pone it?

I really hope this is just a small roadblock...

[tabatha]

2. They have been talking about a delay for a while.

They are new at the job. What is 18 days after 42 years.

Better a proper election than a mess.

There have been successful local elections in a few towns already.

[AJTheMan]

3. I'm glad the elections commission is taking their job seriously

I'm glad they are making sure none of the candidates were previously employed by that tyrant murderer.