National
A man guarded the gate of a polling station in Tripoli, Libya on Saturday, June 7, 2012 as voters arrived for the first national election since the fall of Col. Muammar Gadhafi. About 1.7 million Libyans cast their ballots -- 62% of the 2.8 million eligible to vote.
Women waited to vote in Tripoli, Libya's capital, on Saturday, where voting went smoothly. In eastern Libya, where protests against the Gadhafi regime began last year, voters braved sporadic violence by factions determined to undermine a vote they saw as unfairly weighted with candidates from Libya's western region.
A Libyan man sat along a Tripoli boulevard plastered with campaign posters on Friday, the day before voting began. Over 3,500 candidates ran for 200 seats in the new National General Assembly.
A scout troop met near Martyr's Square in Tripoli on Friday morning, one day ahead of elections.
Voters waited to cast ballots in Tripoli Saturday. Officials said that 94 percent of the 6,629 polling stations nationwide operated without incident.
Libyans scanned voter registration charts in Tripoli on Saturday.
A man cast his ballot in Tripoli on Saturday. Election officials said they would announce the final vote tally Wednesday.
A Libyan woman showed her hands to prove she had not yet voted in Tripoli on Saturday.
An election official cracked a smile in Tripoli on Saturday, waiting to administer ballots to hundreds of first-time voters.
A Libyan man inspected his ink-stained finger after voting in Tripoli on Saturday. The national election was the first semblance of democratic governance in a half-century for a nation that never experienced politics under Gadhafi.
Militia members manned a checkpoint outside Tripoli on Saturday, as voting was underway.
A voter dips his finger in ink before casting his ballot in Zawiyah on Saturday. Many voters there were onetime fighters. âœWe are deciding our destiny,â said Talal bin Jassim, 27, an engineer who picked up a weapon and fought in Tripoli and Zawiyah, where he was voting. âœThis is what we fought for.â
Libyans gathered to celebrate in Martyrs' Square in Tripoli on Saturday afternoon as voting drew to a close.
A man celebrated the closing of the polls in Tripoli on Saturday afternoon. âœFor the first time, the government will have a mandate." said Sami Zapita, managing editor of the Libya Herald. "Gadhafi never had that."
Poll workers danced in Tripoli moments after the polls closed on Saturday.
Poll workers counted ballots in Tripoli Saturday.
Mahmoud Jibril, Libya's interim Prime Minister during last year's war and now head of the political coalition known as the National Forces Alliance, held a press conference in Tripoli on Sunday, following Saturday's historic vote. "The real winner in this election is Libya." he said.
Tripoli's main mosque is pictured Tuesday, July 10, 2012. Libya's Muslim Brotherhood came in a distant second in last week's elections for a new National General Congress.
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