TRIPOLI, Libya — Libyans started voting on Saturday in the first parliamentary election since last year’s ouster and slaying of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, taking a major step forward in the country’s tumultuous transition to democratic rule.
The election for a 200-seat legislature is being held amid intense regional rivalries, fears of violence and calls for a boycott. However, lines began to form outside polling centers more than an hour before they were scheduled to open in the capital Tripoli. Policemen and army soldiers were guarding the centers, searching voters as well as election workers.
“I have a strange but beautiful feeling today,” said dentist Adam Thabet, waiting outside a polling center in the capital Tripoli. “We are free at last after years of fear. We knew this day was coming, but we were afraid it could take long to come.”
Libya’s election is the latest fruit of Arab Spring revolts against authoritarian leaders. It is likely to be dominated by Islamist parties of all shades, a similar outcome to elections held in the country’s neighbors Egypt and Tunisia, which had had their own, though much less bloody, uprisings.
There are four major contenders in the race, ranging from a Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated party and another Islamist coalition on one end of the spectrum to a secular-minded party led by a Western-educated former rebel prime minister on the other.
“This is history in the making,” declared 26-year-old medic Farid Fadil as he waited to vote outside a polling center in Tripoli. After four decades of Gadhafi’s erratic one-man rule, Fadil like many Libyans was overjoyed at the chance to choose his country’s leaders: “We were ruled by a man who saw himself as the state.”
In the oil-rich east, where there is a thriving autonomy movement, calls for a boycott and pre-election violence have cast a shadow over the vote. On Saturday, protesters torched ballot boxes in 14 out of 19 polling centers in the eastern town of Ajdabiya, according to former rebel commander in the area Ibrahim Fayed.
But in Tripoli, voters were jubilant. Libyans flashed the “V’’ for victory sign as they entered polling centers. Motorists honked their horns as they drove past to greet the voters lined outside. Others shouted “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is Greater,” from their car windows.
“The turnout is extraordinary,” said Mohammed Shady, an election monitor. “Everyone is being very cooperative. They want the day to be a success and it will be.”
The election lines brought together Libya’s women, men, young and children accompanying their parents. There were women in black abayas, or black robes, bearded men, elderly men and women on wheelchairs or using canes to support themselves. Some voters arrived at polling centers waving the Libyan red, green and black flag or wrapping it around their shoulders.
Voters distributed sweets to mark the occasion and women hugged each other or sang as they waited in line. Others chanted “the martyrs’ blood will not go in vain,” a reference to the thousands of anti-regime rebels killed by Gadhafi’s forces. Others held pictures of loved ones killed in last year’s ruinous civil war.
The election for a 200-seat legislature is being held amid intense regional rivalries, fears of violence and calls for a boycott. However, lines began to form outside polling centers more than an hour before they were scheduled to open in the capital Tripoli. Policemen and army soldiers were guarding the centers, searching voters as well as election workers.
“I have a strange but beautiful feeling today,” said dentist Adam Thabet, waiting outside a polling center in the capital Tripoli. “We are free at last after years of fear. We knew this day was coming, but we were afraid it could take long to come.”
Libya’s election is the latest fruit of Arab Spring revolts against authoritarian leaders. It is likely to be dominated by Islamist parties of all shades, a similar outcome to elections held in the country’s neighbors Egypt and Tunisia, which had had their own, though much less bloody, uprisings.
There are four major contenders in the race, ranging from a Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated party and another Islamist coalition on one end of the spectrum to a secular-minded party led by a Western-educated former rebel prime minister on the other.
“This is history in the making,” declared 26-year-old medic Farid Fadil as he waited to vote outside a polling center in Tripoli. After four decades of Gadhafi’s erratic one-man rule, Fadil like many Libyans was overjoyed at the chance to choose his country’s leaders: “We were ruled by a man who saw himself as the state.”
In the oil-rich east, where there is a thriving autonomy movement, calls for a boycott and pre-election violence have cast a shadow over the vote. On Saturday, protesters torched ballot boxes in 14 out of 19 polling centers in the eastern town of Ajdabiya, according to former rebel commander in the area Ibrahim Fayed.
But in Tripoli, voters were jubilant. Libyans flashed the “V’’ for victory sign as they entered polling centers. Motorists honked their horns as they drove past to greet the voters lined outside. Others shouted “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is Greater,” from their car windows.
“The turnout is extraordinary,” said Mohammed Shady, an election monitor. “Everyone is being very cooperative. They want the day to be a success and it will be.”
The election lines brought together Libya’s women, men, young and children accompanying their parents. There were women in black abayas, or black robes, bearded men, elderly men and women on wheelchairs or using canes to support themselves. Some voters arrived at polling centers waving the Libyan red, green and black flag or wrapping it around their shoulders.
Voters distributed sweets to mark the occasion and women hugged each other or sang as they waited in line. Others chanted “the martyrs’ blood will not go in vain,” a reference to the thousands of anti-regime rebels killed by Gadhafi’s forces. Others held pictures of loved ones killed in last year’s ruinous civil war.