Libya wraps up national congress election

TRIPOLI - Libya's national congress election wrapped up on Saturday evening, with a turnout of less than 50 percent.

Head of Libya's High National Electoral Commission (HNEC) Nuri al-Abbar said at a press conference that 1.2 million out of more than 2.7 million registered voters have cast their ballots.

Most polling stations in Tripoli and Libya's second largest city of Benghazi were closed at 8:00 pm local time (GMT 1800) as scheduled and vote counting begins immediately.

Voting period at some polling stations in eastern region might be extended, according to a text message sent to local residents by the HNEC.

The landmark national congress election kicked off on Saturday morning and was hailed as a milestone on the path toward democracy after the toppling of former leader 0. The election result is scheduled to be announced on July 11.

Abbar said 94 percent of polling stations across the country are running smoothly. Nevertheless, the polls encountered a series of violent disruptions, mainly in Libya's eastern region.

An electoral worker prepares to count ballots after polling stations closed in Benghazi, July 7, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

In Libya's eastern city of Ajdabiya, one person was killed in a drive-by shooting outside a polling station, an interior ministry official told Xinhua.

Also in Ajdabiya, a voter was shot down and another one wounded when a group of armed men tried to close a polling station there.

A security source told Xinhua that two polling stations in Libya's second largest city Benghazi was attacked on Saturday morning.

The attackers stormed polling stations, destroyed ballot boxes and set some electoral materials on fire, with no casualties reported, the source said on condition of anonymity.

Earlier in the day, voting in the eastern cities of Ajdabiya and Brega was suspended as electoral materials there had been destroyed by arsonists, the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera TV said, adding that some 20 polling stations in Ajdabiya resumed later.

Meanwhile, voters in the Oasis area of Jalo-Aojalla-Jakhirra in eastern Libya was not able to vote Saturday because airplanes carrying electoral materials for the district had been held at Zawitina Airport by protesters demanding national congress seat allocation.

Voters in most parts of Libya started to cast their ballots since 8:00 am local time (0600 GMT).

A woman walks by a ballot booth during the National Assembly election at a polling station in Tripoli, July 7, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

A Libyan woman holds up her ink-stained finger after casting her vote at a polling station in Benghazi July 7, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]