Libya wraps up national congress election

In Libya's capital of Tripoli, checkpoints were set up in the early hours of Saturday to secure the election.

At a polling station in downtown Tripoli, hundreds of Libyans queued up, waiting for participating in the landmark election.

"I will vote for a political party named the State of Law," 21- year-old Noha told Xinhua. The medical student could not help crying in the morning, because "all the Libyans are waiting for the historic moment."

A 45-year-old man named Gamal said he cast his ballot for independent candidate Abdul Altomi. "The reason I choose him is that he is a legal staff and the national congress, as a legislation body, needs people like him."

Aiad Essa, a worker of the HNEC, said 4,700 voters have registered to vote at the polling station, among whom 2,138 are women.

"We met in post-war Libya, security now is under control. Heroic Libya will surprise the world," Libyan Prime Minister Abdurrahim El-Keib said, upon his arrival at a polling station in Tripoli, referring to the frequent burst of violence in the eastern region.

Head of the Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) Abdul Jalil said Saturday that the NTC will be dismissed after the results of the national congress election are published.

In a speech aired by Al-Jazeera TV channel, Jalil said the NTC, which was established during last year's civil war that toppled Gadhafi and is currently ruling the North African country, will be officially dismissed after the results of the election are announced.

"Libya will turn from a stage of transition toward a phase of rebuilding," Jalil said.

A woman celebrates on the streets after casting her vote during the National Assembly election in Tripoli's Martyrs square, July 7, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

The 200-member congress is expected to replace the ruling NTC to supervise the government and oversee experts to draw up a new constitution.

Two-fifths of the seats in the new parliament will be reserved for political parties and groups that were banned under Gadhafi's rule, according to the final draft of the country's election law published early February. The rest will be allocated to independent candidates.

A total of 374 political entities and 2,639 individual candidates are contesting in the election.

According to statistics from the HNEC, Libya has 3.4 million eligible voters out of a total population of over 6 million. More than 2.7 million people, or about 80 percent of eligible voters, have registered to go to the polls.