Our Observers reveal possibility of vote fraud in Libya’s elections

Two separate voter cards made out to the same person.

While recent violence in eastern Libya have some fearing the worst come Saturday’s parliamentary elections, our Observers have already noticed a number of irregularities in the run-up to the vote they say could be exploited to commit fraud.

There are a total of 200 seats up for grabs as Libya heads to the polls this weekend to vote for its future parliament, in what is the first free ballot the country has seen in decades. Once elected, the country’s new government will replace interim ruling body, the National Transitional Council, and be tasked with establishing a new Constitution, which will ultimately be set to a referendum.

Around 2.7 million people are now eligible to vote on Saturday after the Electoral Commission repeatedly pushed back the registration deadline multiple times, in an effort to encourage participation. Out of a population of around 6 million people, slightly more than half of Libyans are of voting age.

“I have two different voter cards issued by two separate polling stations, which means I can cast my ballot twice”

Mahamed Zarroug is a blogger in Tripoli. He is also a part of the FRANCE 24 Observers and RFI Media Workshop’s special election project, which deploys teams of citizen journalists into the Libyan capital to cover the vote. Zarroug spoke with two registered voters, who described irregularities during the registration process they believe could be used to commit fraud.

Ahmed is a 24 year-old student.

I had doubts about how reliable the Election Commission’s registration process was, so I went to my voting station with my identity papers. Afterwards I then went to another polling place a few streets away, where I showed the exact same documents, and was also allowed through. Doing so, I was able to get two different voter cards. I fully intend to use both to see how professional the Commission is! If they notice that I’ve registered twice, then that will mean that they’ve maintained a list of all registered voters as a way to make sure the voting process is transparent.

Book of official family records issued by Libyan authorities.

Boubacar, 33, is an architect.

In order to get a voter card, you have to show your official family records. I had misplaced mine, but in the end was allowed to register with a photocopied version. My sister was able to do the same. The strange thing was that the election official that was handling my registration never even asked for the original copy, which is required by law.