Libya to hold much-delayed Constituent Assembly elections on 20 February

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[img]http://imgkk.com/i/vctz.jpg[/img]

[url]http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/30/us-libya-constitution-idUSBREA0T20A20140130[/url]
[quote]Libya will elect an assembly on February 20 to draft a constitution intended to advance transition to democracy and break political stalemate more than two years after a NATO-backed uprising toppled Muammar Gaddafi.[/quote]

[url]http://www.libyaherald.com/2014/01/30/elections-for-60-member-constitutional-committee-on-20-february/#axzz2rw6SqyqT[/url]
[quote]The head of the High National Elections Commission (HNEC), Nuri Elabbar, has announced that elections for the 60-member committee that will draw up Libya's new constitution will take place on Thursday, 20 February. Overseas voting will take place from 15 to17 February.

The long awaited decision, which has been endorsed by Congress, puts an end to months of uncertainty about when the poll would take place. It has been regularly put back.

It was originally planned that the committee would be appointed by Congress and that it would draft a constitution by some point last year, allowing for it to be approved in a referendum and then elections to take place for a new legislature by next week, 7 February, at the very latest.[/quote]

The assembly will have 120 days to draw up a new constitution, which will then be put to a referendum requiring two-thirds to vote yes. If this works, elections under the new constitution will be held by the end of the year. If they fail to reach agreement, Congress (which is increasingly unpopular and has already extended its own mandate twice) will [url=http://www.libyaherald.com/2014/01/22/congress-plans-to-quit-by-24-december/#axzz2rw6SqyqT]dissolve itself[/url] around May and a new Congress will be elected and tasked with figuring out wtf to do next.

This CA election is already looking to be much more of a cockwang than the relatively smooth Congressional elections in 2012. Voter registration is far lower, and the minority Amazighs are boycotting the vote in protest over being guaranteed just 2 out of 60 seats on the new assembly.