Libyans vote in First Parliamentary Election After Gadhafi

Libyans started voting on Saturday July 7 in the first parliamentary election after a 42-year from Muammar Gaddafi ruling and bitter civil war that ended with the capture and killing of Gadhafi in October so Libyans taking a major step forward transition to democratic rule.

Polling stations opened earlier today , the elections began lining up hours before opening people wrapped black-and-green-red "revolutionary" flags very exciting to vote for a 200-member transitional parliament and about 2.9 million Libyans, or 80 percent of Libyans eligible to vote, have registered for the election and more than 3,000 candidates have plastered the country with posters and billboards,

While there are four major parties in the race, The frist National Forces Alliance is a coalition of parties, non-profit groups and political figures led by Mahmoud Jibril, who was the rebel foreign minister during the conflict against Gadhafi. the second Justice and Construction Party: The political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Libya, led by Mohammed Sawan, a former political prisoner under Gadhafi, the thrid Al-Watan (Homeland) Party: An Islamist group led by former rebel militia leader Abdul-Hakim Belhaj, who was a former emir of the now-defunct Libyan Islamic Fighting Group. the fourth National Front Party: While founded in 2012, it is affiliated with the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, which was a former resistance group against Gadhafi

Where Policemen and army soldiers were guarding the centers due fears of violence and calls for a boycott and on the eve of Saturday's vote, gunmen shot down a helicopter carrying polling materials near the eastern city of Benghazi, the birthplace of the revolution, killing one election worker, said Saleh Darhoub, a spokesman for the ruling National Transitional Council. The crew survived after a crash landing.Prime Minister Abdurrahim el-Keib vowed the government would ensure a safe vote and condemned the election worker's killing and those who seek to derail the vote,According to AP

After the NTC passed election laws,the east less than a third of the parliamentary seats, with the rest going to the western region that includes Tripoli and the sparsely-settled desert south the east was neglected on a regular basis in and marginalized for decades by Gaddafi, the easterners sensitive to anything they see as an attempt to prolong this neglect after the sacrifices they made during the civil war.

As reported by AP, The new parliament had two missions: to elect a new transitional government to replace the one appointed by the National Transitional Council and to put together a 60-member panel to write the country's constitution