Saturday, October 22, 2011

Libyan premier promises elections within 8 months; liberation to be declared Sunday

Libya’s interim premier Mahmud Jibril announced the country would hold elections in eight months time. (File photo)

Parliamentary elections will take place in Libya within eight months, the country’s interim premier Mahmud Jibril announced on Saturday.

Libyans will go to their first ever polls to elect a national council that will be entrusted with the task of drafting a new constitution and forming an interim government, Jibril said.

The priority now is to remove weapons from the country’s streets and restore stability and order, Jibril said at the World Economic Forum in Jordan.
“The first election should take place within a period of eight months, maximum, to constitute a national congress of Libya, some sort of parliament,” he said.

“This national congress will have two tasks − draft a constitution, on which we will hold a referendum, and the second to form an interim government to last until the first presidential elections are held,” he said.

Jibril also said that he expected to step down on Saturday, a move he had planned to make once his government took full control of the country.

Asked when he expected to stand down, Jibril told Reuters: “Today, today.”

A military spokesman also said that Libya’s transitional government will declare liberation on Sunday after months of bloodshed that culminated in the death of longtime leader Muammar Qaddafi.

Officials from the governing National Transitional Council had said the announcement would be made Saturday in the eastern city of Benghazi, the revolution’s birthplace.

But spokesman Abdel-Rahman Busin said preparations are under way for a Sunday ceremony. He didn’t give an explanation for the delay. The declaration will allow Libya’s new rulers to move forward with efforts to transform the oil-rich nation into a democracy.

Libyan authorities are facing questions about how Qaddafi was killed after images emerged showing he was found alive and taunted and beaten by his captors.

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