By Libya Herald reporter.
Tripoli, 8 August 2015:
The organisation set up to run elections to the Amazigh Supreme Council, Tasmilt n Istayn, has announced that voter and candidate registration will start tomorrow, Sunday, and last for a week.
Registration will take place in Zuwara, Nalut, Garigan, Kabaw, Yefren, Al-Qala, Rahibat, Wazin, Tamzin, and Jadu.
The elections to the 26-member council will take place on Sunday, 30 August, with polling stations open from 8am to 8pm.
There will be three members from each town, apart from Tamzin and Garigan which will have one each on account of their population being is small and not everyone speaking Tamazight, the language of the Amazigh.
Of the three, one has to be a municipal councillor from each town, chosen by the other councillors, while the other two will be elected by direct sufferage. One has to be male, the other a female. The Council will have a two-year mandate and be based in Tripoli.
It is the first time that there have been elections to the council, set up in January 2013. They were called last month by the ASC president. There have been complaints among Libya's large Amazigh community that the self-appointed organisation was not democratic and not responding to public opinion.