A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Friday, July 6, 2012

Election Eve in Libya

Libya's first nationwide democratic elections, for a General National Congress, is tomorrow.Sporadic violence and continuing clashes among militias have plagued the campaign. I claim no expertise on Libya and haven't followed events that closely, but this BBC Q&A backgrounder offers the basics.

1 comment:

David Mack said...

I claim a fair degree of Libya expertise, but these elections are really hard to figure out for everyone. Some 80 percent of eligible Libyans are registered to vote, and despite the confusion Libyans have high expectations. Let's hope the outcome does not lead to a correspondingly high level of disillusion with electoral democracy. They will have an opportunity to rectify matters in the course of next year when they are scheduled to write a constitution.