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People flocked to cast their ballots on Saturday in their first free national election in 60 years,
despite protests disrupting some polling in the east.
As voting closed around the country, authorities said 98% of poll centres had opened at some
point during the day for the election of a 200-head assembly that will name a prime minister
and pave the way for parliamentary elections in 2013.
Turnout was put at 60% by the country's Electoral Commission, according to early figures.
Preliminary results were due on Monday or Tuesday, the electoral commission said.
Candidates with Islamist agendas dominate the field of more than 3,700 hopefuls, suggesting
Libya will be the next Arab Spring country - after Egypt and Tunisia - to see religious parties
secure a grip on power.
The coalition of ex-revolution prime minister Mahmud Jibril is seen as a key contender among
liberals, facing stiff competition from two Islamist parties - Justice and Construction and
Al-Watan.
Justice and Construction is an offshoot of Libya's Muslim Brotherhood, while Al-Watan is the
party of former CIA detainee and Islamist insurgent Abdel Hakim Belhadj.
Interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil was joyous as he voted in his hometown of Al Bayda, in the
east.
The mood was also jubilant in the capital Tripoli, but some parts of the east were more
troubled as anti-poll protesters seeking greater autonomy for a region that is home to the
bulk of Libya's vast oil resources sought to disrupt the vote.
Many easterners are angry that the east has been allotted only 60 seats in the assembly
compared with 102 for the west.
One man was shot dead by a security guard as he tried to steal a ballot box in the eastern
town of Ajdabiya.
Another was killed in gunfire in a clash between protesters and backers of the poll in eastern
city of Benghazi, the cradle of last year's uprising.
People flocked to cast their ballots on Saturday in their first free national election in 60 years,
despite protests disrupting some polling in the east.
As voting closed around the country, authorities said 98% of poll centres had opened at some
point during the day for the election of a 200-head assembly that will name a prime minister
and pave the way for parliamentary elections in 2013.
Turnout was put at 60% by the country's Electoral Commission, according to early figures.
Preliminary results were due on Monday or Tuesday, the electoral commission said.
Candidates with Islamist agendas dominate the field of more than 3,700 hopefuls, suggesting
Libya will be the next Arab Spring country - after Egypt and Tunisia - to see religious parties
secure a grip on power.
The coalition of ex-revolution prime minister Mahmud Jibril is seen as a key contender among
liberals, facing stiff competition from two Islamist parties - Justice and Construction and
Al-Watan.
Justice and Construction is an offshoot of Libya's Muslim Brotherhood, while Al-Watan is the
party of former CIA detainee and Islamist insurgent Abdel Hakim Belhadj.
Interim leader Mustafa Abdel Jalil was joyous as he voted in his hometown of Al Bayda, in the
east.
The mood was also jubilant in the capital Tripoli, but some parts of the east were more
troubled as anti-poll protesters seeking greater autonomy for a region that is home to the
bulk of Libya's vast oil resources sought to disrupt the vote.
Many easterners are angry that the east has been allotted only 60 seats in the assembly
compared with 102 for the west.
One man was shot dead by a security guard as he tried to steal a ballot box in the eastern
town of Ajdabiya.
Another was killed in gunfire in a clash between protesters and backers of the poll in eastern
city of Benghazi, the cradle of last year's uprising.
