Libya will hold its first free elections Friday, with thousands of candidates seeking election to the country’s General National Congress.
The Congress will then select a cabinet to replace the ruling National Transitional Council. The Congress will also be tasked with drafting a constitution and choosing a prime minister, according to Reuters.
Of the approximately 3,700 candidates who are running for 200 seats, many have Islamist agendas, the news agency reported. Libya has 2.7 million registered voters.
“This is a new beginning for us, we are learning democracy,” Tarek Mabrouk, a shop keeper in Tripoli, told the news agency. “We all hope that it will go well so we can move forward.”
Although there is hope for the transition to democracy following the decades-long rule of strongman Moammar Gadhafi, some still fear the power wielded by the various armed militias that helped topple the dictator in last year’s civil war.
In a new report, Amnesty International said these militias that “have a stranglehold on Libya are committing a string of human rights violations with impunity.”
Amnesty’s researchers found these militias can basically do whatever they want and many have refused to join the army or the Libyan police force.
An estimated 4,000 people are still detained in prisons run by militias that are outside the jurisdiction of Libya’s government, the London-based rights group said. Researchers said that at these centers, torture and beatings are commonplace.
