On Thursday, Libya’s High National Elections Commission (HNEC) announced that 1,962,908 Libyans have received their voting cards from local registration centers.
This included 1,185,392 male voters, and 777,516 female voters.
In a statement, the commission called on citizens who have not yet received their voting cards to collect them before the 28 November deadline. Failing to do so, will negate their ability to vote in the upcoming 24 December elections.
Over 2.8 million of Libya’s seven million residents have registered to vote. Both Presidential and Parliamentary elections were slated for 24 December, but in early October the Libyan Parliament postponed the legislative elections until January.
HNEC Head, Emad Al-Din Al-Sayeh previously announced that they have adopted new measures to prevent fraud in the upcoming national elections. “It is a huge logistical operation, even more complicated than updating the voter registration system, as it is a sensitive and accurate process. The entire electoral process depends on it,” he explained.
Earlier this month, HNEC opened the registration process for the December elections. These are seen as a step toward normalcy after nearly a decade of war in the country.
On Wednesday, Libya’s election commission decided to rule out 25 candidates, including Saif Al-Islam Gaddafi from the planned Presidential elections.
In a statement, the commission said that Saif Al-Islam was ineligible to run, compounding the turmoil surrounding the vote.
Disputes over the election rules, including the legal basis of the vote and the eligibility of candidates threatens to derail an internationally-backed peace process aimed at ending a decade of factional chaos.
A number of candidates initially approved by the commission had also been accused of possible violations by political rivals.
Interim Prime Minister, Abdel-Hamid Dbaiba initially vowed not to run for President when he took up his role in February of this year. He also failed to resign from his position, three months before the vote as required by the contested election laws.