Libya's landmark poll postponed to July 7

TRIPOLI: Libya has announced that elections for a constituent assembly, the country's first national vote after four decades of dictatorship under toppled leader Moamer Kadhafi, has been postponed to July 7.

The election had originally been slated to be held by June 19.

"The date for the elections will be July 7," the president of the electoral commission, Nuri al-Abbar, told a news conference in Tripoli Sunday, citing "logistical and technical" reasons for the delay.

The vote was postponed due to a delay in adopting a law to organise the elections, in order to give voters more time to register and to allow candidates who have been ruled out by the commission to appeal the decision, Abbar said.

He said that the commission started its duties on February 12 which gave it only "128 days to prepare the elections... a very short time, especially for a country that hasn't seen elections for almost half a century."

Abbar added that a note was sent on Sunday to the ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) to explain the decision to delay the vote.

A member of the electoral commission said the postponement had been decided in consultation with UN officials working with the commission who had "proposed a date during the first week in July."

More than 2.7 million Libyans, or around 80 percent of eligible voters, have registered to participate in the election.