24 May 2012

OUT OF COUNTRY VOTING (OCV)

FOR THE LIBYA NATIONAL GENERAL CONGRESS ELECTION

Background

1. Q: What is the 2012 National General Congress Election for?

A: The 2012 National General Congress Election is for election of 200 members who will form

the National General Congress (NGC) of Libya. The National General Congress will rule the

country until a new Constitution is adopted and a parliament is elected under a new charter.

2. Q: How are members of the National General Congress elected?

A: A mixed electoral system will be used for the National General Congress Election. A

majoritarian system will be used to elect 120 representatives and proportional representation

system will be used to elect 80 representatives.

3. Q: How are the electoral constituencies formed?

A: For election purposes, Libya has been divided to 13 constituencies, which are further divided

to 73 sub-constituencies. Individual candidates race in 69 sub-constituencies under the

majoritarian system. Political entities will race in 20 sub-constituencies under the proportional

representation system. Some of these 20 sub-constituencies are formed by joining two or more

majoritarian sub-constituencies to form a larger sub-constituency. Out of the total of 73 sub-

constituencies within the country:

a) 19 will have only a majoritarian ballot paper,

b) 4 will have only a proportional representation ballot paper, and

c) 50 will have two ballot papers – one majoritarian and one proportional representation

ballot paper.

4. Q: How does the majoritarian system work?

A: Some majoritarian sub-constituencies will elect one representative and some will elect more

than one representative. The number of seats in the sub-constituencies ranges from 1 to 9.

Individual candidates contest seats in the sub-constituency. The voters cast one vote for one

candidate and the seats are won by the candidates with the most votes. 40 majoritarian sub-

constituencies will have one seat for a total of 40 elected representatives. 29 sub-constituencies

will have more than one seat for a total of 80 elected representatives.

5. Q: How does the proportional representation system work?

A: Political entities will submit lists of candidates to contest the seats in the sub-constituency. It

is a closed-list system, meaning that the voter will not be able to see the actual list of candidates

put forth by each political entity. The positions of candidates on the list are fixed.

The number of seats in the proportional representation sub-constituencies ranges from 3 to 11.

Each political entity has to put forth at least half as many candidates in each sub-constituency as

there are seats. For example, if there are 4 available seats in a particular sub-constituency, the

24 May 2012

political entity has to list at least 2 candidates. If there are 11 available seats, 6 candidates from

a political entity must be on the list.

The voters cast one vote for the list of a political entity. The seats are allocated to political

entities’ lists in proportion to the votes won by that political entity, and the winners of the seats

are selected from the lists in the order of their position on the list. For example, an entity that

received 20% of the votes in a sub-constituency with 5 seats would win one seat. An entity that

received 40% of the votes would win two seats, and so on.

6. Q: Where will OCV be held?

A: Pending agreements signed with the governments of the host countries, Out-of-Country

Voting (OCV) for the NGC election will take place in six countries:

• Canada

• Germany

• Jordan

• United Arab Emirates

• United Kingdom

• United States

The OCV operation will take place in the capital cities of the selected countries, except in the

case of United Arab Emirates where the OCV will take place in Dubai.

7. Q: How were the six countries selected?

A: The High National Election Commission (HNEC) selected the six countries where OCV will be

held.

8. Q: Who is the HNEC?

A: According to Electoral Law No. 3/2012, the High National Election Commission (HNEC) is the

Libyan institution authorized to conduct the National General Congress Election. The HNEC

consists of:

a) The Board of Commissioners, which is the executive branch of HNEC and it consists of 11

commissioners who were appointed on 7 February 2012. The Board’s role is to issue all

executive instructions, internal regulations and policies required to administer the

elections. The Board will also certify and announce the results of the elections.

b) The Central Administration Office, which is the administrative branch of HNEC. It is

based in Tripoli and is responsible for the overall operational implementation of the

election and the supervision of the Sub-Administration Offices.

c) The Sub-Administration Offices, which are based in 13 cities throughout Libya. Their

role is the operational implementation of the election down to the level of polling

station.

For further information on the HNEC, see www.hnec.ly

9. Q: Who is responsible for the OCV operation?

24 May 2012

A: The HNEC is fully responsible for all aspects of the National General Congress Election,

including the Out-of-Country Voting in the six selected countries. For the conduct of the OCV

operation, HNEC established an OCV Committee composed of three Commissioners.

10. Q: What is IOM’s role in the OCV for Libya National General Congress Election?

A: The IOM has been asked by the HNEC to support it as implementing partner in conducting the

OCV in the six selected countries. For this purpose, IOM opened an OCV Coordination Office in

Tripoli and will open OCV Country Offices in the six selected countries. For the implementation

of the OCV operation, the IOM will work under the umbrella of the United Nations Election

Support Team (UNEST) and ensure full respect of the regulatory framework approved by HNEC.

Eligibility and Documents

11. Q: Who can register to vote in the OCV for the National General Congress Election?

A: In order to register to vote in the OCV for the National General Congress Election a person

must:

a) Be a Libyan national;

b) be 18 years of age on the day of voting;

c) be legally competent;

d) not be affiliated to the official military institutions; and

e) not have been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, unless

the person was rehabilitated.

12. Q: How does a person prove eligibility to register to vote in the OCV for the National General

Congress Election?

A: In order to register a person must prove that they are who they say they are, i.e. prove their

identity, and that they are eligible to be registered. To do so, a person must produce documents

to prove her/his identity and to prove that s/he is Libyan national.

13. Q: What documents are necessary to prove identity?

A: To establish identity, the person must present a personal identification document, with a

photo, issued by either Libyan authorities or authorities of another state. Such documents are:

a) Family Book containing applicant’s photograph;

b) Libyan passport;

c) personal identification document issued by the Libyan authorities;

d) Libyan National Number Card; or

e) personal identification document issued by authorities of the OCV host country or any

other country, as long as it is an official document with a photo.

14. Q: What documents are necessary to prove nationality?

A: To establish nationality a person must present one of the following documents:

a) Family Book or copy of the Family Book;

b) official document issued by the Libyan Civil Registry Office; or

24 May 2012

c) Libyan passport.

15. Q: Can a person register and vote if he or she does not have any documents that prove

identity and/or nationality?

A: No. No person will be allowed to vote in the OCV for the National General Congress Election if

such person cannot produce any of the above listed documents.

Dates, Times and Locations

16. Q: When will the registration and voting begin and how long will it last?

A: Registration and voting for the OCV for the National General Congress Election will be

conducted concurrently and will last for 5 days, concluding on the Election Day in-country.

17. Q: Where will registration and voting take place?

A: The registration and voting for OCV for the National General Congress Election will take place

in a Registration and Polling Centers (RPC). Each RPC will consist of two or more Registration and

Polling Stations (RPS).

18. Q: Where will the RPCs be located?

A: Whenever feasible the RPCs will be located in the Libyan Embassies and Consulates in the

capital cities of the six countries.

Data Management

19. Q: What information will a person be providing when they register?

A: When registering, a person will be providing: their first name, father’s name, grandfather’s

name and surname; their age; their gender; the type and serial number of the document

presented at the RPS to prove their identity; and the type and serial number of the document

presented at the RPS to prove their nationality.

20. Q: What happens to the data after registration and voting? Do host country authorities get a

copy? Does IOM keep a copy after the election?

A: IOM will not be providing registration information to host countries, nor will it be keeping a

copy of the registration data itself once the election is over.

21. Q: Will the HNEC get a copy of the data once the election is over?

A: Yes, the HNEC will have a copy of data because the General National Congress Election is

being organized by HNEC.

22. Q: Can someone else register and vote on behalf of a person by providing that person’s

documentation?

A: No. Each person who wishes to register and vote must do so in person.

Processes – General

24 May 2012

23. Q: Will Libyan nationals residing in countries other than OCV host countries be able to register

and vote? If yes, how and where?

A: Yes. Eligible Libyan nationals can register and vote regardless of where or in which country

they currently reside. But they must travel to one of the RPCs in any of the six OCV countries.

24. Q: Will the OCV Registration and Polling Stations be gender specific, as in Libya?

A: No. The HNEC, after examining the practices in all of the OCV host countries that have

conducted national elections, has decided that there is no need for gender specific stations for

the OCV.

25. Q: There are 69 sub-constituencies with a majoritarian system and 20 sub-constituencies with

a proportional representation system. For which sub-constituency will the eligible voters cast

their votes in the OCV?

A: Eligible voters for the OCV process can cast a vote for a sub-constituency of her or his choice.

The voter, depending on the sub-constituency of her or his choice, will cast either one ballot

paper (for a majoritarian or a proportional representation race), or two ballot papers (if the sub-

constituency of their choice has both races).

26. Q: Does every sub-constituency have a ballot paper of its own?

A: Yes, every sub-constituency has a ballot paper of its own, meaning there will be 69 ballot

papers for the majoritarian race and 20 ballot papers for the proportional representation race.

27. Q: Do the voters in the OCV vote on the same ballot papers as in Libya?

A: No. HNEC will design special ballot papers for the OCV process – one for the majoritarian

race and one for the proportional representation race. These ballot papers will not contain the

names of individual candidates and political entities; rather, they will contain a table with

numbers. The voter will need to mark the number in the table corresponding to the number of

the individual candidate/political entity as it appears on the in-country ballot paper.

28. Q: How will the OCV voters know who the candidates or political entities are?

A: Once confirmed, the HNEC will publish a list of all the individual candidates and political

entities registered to contest in each sub-constituency on their website

http://www.elections2012.ly. Additionally, in each RPS, there will be a RPS staff member who

will:

1. Help voters identify the sub-constituency for which they wish to cast a ballot or ballots,

2. Provide a booklet listing all the eligible individual candidates and political entities for

that sub-constituency, in the order in which they appear on the in-country ballot, and

3. Explain how to mark the ballot.