Libya’s High National Elections Commission (HNEC) on Monday announced it has extended the voters’ registration date to August 17, 2021.
HNEC Chairman, Emad Al-Din Al-Sayeh, who disclosed the development at a press conference, said registration for Libyans abroad will begin on 18 August and run until 15 September.
Al-Sayeh explained that the decision was based on the desire of civil society organizations to give those who did not register an opportunity to change their voting centre.
The registration of new voters is a key electoral milestone to realize Libya’s dream of holding national elections on 24 December 2021. Early last month, Al-Sayeh announced July 30th as the deadline for voters registration, urging new voters and “those who have moved residence” to register before the deadline.
“Registration is open until 30 July. Voters can register by SMS or through telephone and by social media messages,” the HNEC chair said on July 6th.
The recent extension comes a day after Al-Sayeh held a meeting with the Director of the Office of Local Government Affairs and Elections in the Presidential Council, Abdel Basset Godan, at HNEC’s headquarters in Tripoli.
At the meeting, the Presidential Council reiterated its keenness to hold the presidential elections on time.
During the meeting, they discussed mechanisms of joint cooperation between HNEC and the Presidential Council with regard to awareness programs for citizens.
Al-Sayeh expressed the commission’s readiness to provide consultations and technical support for the activities proposed by the Presidential Council in this regard.
HNEC data indicates that more than half of Libya’s eligible voters have registered.
Last week, the commission announced that there were 2,689,094 voters in its database, adding that new voters are up by 348,998 on July 31st.
