2012 Libyan parliamentary election
Elections for a General National Congress (GNC) were held in Libya on 7 July 2012, having been postponed from 19 June. They were the first elections since the overthrow and death of longtime ruler Muammar Gaddafi a year earlier, the first free national elections since 1952, and only the second free national elections since Libya gained independence in 1951.
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200 seats in the General National Congress (80 seats for political parties, 120 for individual candidates) 101 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Member State of the Arab League |
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| Libya portal |
Once elected, the General National Congress was to appoint a Prime Minister and Cabinet. The GNC was originally to be charged with appointing a Constituent Assembly to draw up Libya's new constitution in an interim period of 18–22 months before a constitutional referendum and new elections on that basis, but the National Transitional Council (NTC) announced on 5 July that the Assembly would instead be directly elected at a later date.
Despite threats of a boycott, a majority of Libyans (61.58%) cast a ballot. However, the election was marred by violence, protests and a number of deaths.