High National Election Commission
Board of Commissioners

Decision No (75) of 2012
On Adpoting out of country registration and polling regulation

Having noted:
- The provisional constitutional declaration enacted on August 3, 2011 and its amendment.
- Act No 3 of 2012 on the establishment of the High National Election Commission and its amendments.
- Act No 4 of 2012 On the Elections of the General National Congress and its amendments.
- Act No 14 of 2012 on demarcation of constituencies for General National Congress elections and its amendments.
- The Transitional National Council decision No 42 on appointing the chairman and members of the High National Election Commission for the election of the General National Congress.
- The implementing regulation of Act No 4 of 2012 on voters’ registration within the country.
- The implementing regulation of Act No 4 of 2012 on election campaign.
- The implementing regulation of Act No 4 of 2012 on the accreditation of observers, candidates and political entities agents.
- The minutes stated in the fifteenth meeting of the Board of Commissioners held on 23/05/2012.

Decided

Article (1)
Adopt registration and polling regulation attached to this decision for out of country voters for the election of the General National Congress.

Article (2)
This decision shall be published on the website of the Commission as well as in the media and shall be implemented by those who are addressed by its provisions.

Dr. Imad Al Shadali Al Sayeh
Deputy Chair for Board of Commissioners
Enacted in Tripoli- Libya
Date: 2 Rajab 1433 Hijri
May 23, 2012


High National Election Commission
Implementing regulation of Act Number (4) of 2012
On the Election of the General National Congress
(Out of Country Registration and Polling Regulation for the Election of the General National Congress)
Board of Commissioners

Having noted:
- The constitutional declaration enacted on August 3, 2011 and its amendment.
- Act No 3 of 2012 on the establishment of the High National Election Commission and its amendments.
- Act No 4 of 2012 On the Election of the General National Congress.
- The implementing regulation of Act No 4 of 2012 on voters’ registration within the country.
- The implementing regulation of Act No 4 of 2012 on election campaign.
- The implementing regulation of Act No 4 of 2012 on the accreditation of observers, candidates and political entities agents.
- The minutes stated in the 25th meeting of the Board of Commissioners held on 23/05/2012.

Decided

Article (1)

Definitions
1. High National Election Commission: The HNEC was established under the law and is tasked with regulation, administration and oversight of the electoral process.
2. Elections: The process of electing members of the General National Congress will take place according to the provisions of Act No (4) Of 2012 regarding the election of General National Congress.
3. Out of Country Registration and Polling: The process of organizing and voting of Libyan expatriates.
4. Host countries: Are the countries selected by HNEC to carry out the registration and polling process for Libyans voting out of the country for the election of the General National Congress.
5. Registration and Polling Center: The place where the process of polling and sorting takes place.
6. Registration and Polling Station: The place where ballot boxes and polling papers are located as well as the staff overseeing the process. This station is located inside the registration and polling center.
7. Registration: The required process by which persons acquire eligibility to cast their votes in the polling for the election of the General National Congress.
8. Polling: The process by which the persons eligible for polling cast their votes.
9. Sorting and Counting: The process of determining the total of voters’ votes as to individual candidates or lists.
10. Registration and Polling Staff: The staff assigned to different tasks inside registration and polling centres and stations.
11. Observers: National or international persons or entities accredited by HNEC for observing the electoral process and providing reports on the progress of the process.
12. Agents: the persons representing political entities or candidates, accredited by the HNEC to observe the elections in accordance with the provisions of the law.

Article (2)

General Provisions
1. The process of out of country voting depends on the agreement signed with the host countries.
2. Out of country voting programme shall be conducted fully in line with the laws in force in host countries and shall be governed by regulations and procedures adopted by HNEC.
3. HNEC shall be responsible for all aspects of out of country voting programme, including registration, voting, sorting, counting and tabulation of results, in addition to the announcement of the final results of the out of country voting for the election of the General National Congress.
4. The process of out of country voting for the election of the General National Congress shall be implemented by the coordination office in Tripoli, established by the International Organization for Migration along with six offices in host countries that have been selected.
5. Polling coordination office shall undertake the follow up of the programme, and will include a representative or two from HNEC to work in the out of the country polling office of the IOM – Tripoli. This is to ensure the coordination process with HNEC regarding public outreach, registration, voting, sorting, counting and the referral of results related to the out of country voting process.
6. Coordination will take place in the host country through IOM polling coordinator in that host country, after the HNEC agree to appoint a local consultant from Libyan communities in every host country to work with the teams of out of country voting office under the oversight of OCV office coordinator in each country.
7. Registration and polling centres designed for the OCV programme shall be established in the host countries.
8. The HNEC will coordinate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation regarding the role of Libyan embassies and consulates to be used as registration and polling centres in the host countries.
9. Every registration and polling centre shall consist of two or more registration and polling stations.

Article (3)

Registration, Polling and Counting
1. OCV registration and polling processes are conducted simultaneously for five days and end on the last election day in Libya.
2. Counting begins on the last day of polling after the end of the voting process.
3. The IOM-run OCV Coordination Office shall lay down the registration, polling and counting procedures upon the HNEC’s approval.

Article (4)

Eligibility for Registration and Polling
Persons seeking registration in out of country voting process for the election of General National Congress shall meet the following requirements:
- be a Libyan citizen who enjoys legal eligibility
- 18 years of age on the day of polling
- not affiliated to the regular military entities
- not have been convicted of an offence involving honesty or moral turpitude unless rehabilitated

Article (5)

Documents required for Registration and Polling
1. In order for the person to register for polling s/he shall bring with her/him one of the following documents that prove her/his citizenship:
- Family book or a copy thereof
- Libyan Passport
- An official document issued by the Civil Registry or the consulate (birth certificate or family status).
2. To check the identity of the person seeking registration for polling s/he has to bring one of the following documents:
- Family book with a photograph of the person concerned
- Libyan Passport
- Identity card issued by Libyan authorities;
- National Libyan Number card;
- Any official document with the picture of the person on it.
If the person is unable to obtain the above mentioned documents, s/he will not be allowed to register or vote in the OCV process.

Article (6)

Polling Paper
The HNEC will design and prepare two types of ballot papers for the OCV polling process for the election of the General National Congress; one is for the majoritarian system and the other for the proportional representation system.

Article (7)

Registration and Polling Staff
All registration and polling centres to be established for the OCV process for the election of the General National Congress will be managed by the following staff:

- Chair of registration and polling center who will oversee the work of the staff of the center and report on the work in the centre to the OCV office in that country.
- Registration and polling center support staff who assist the chair of the centre in the performance of her/his tasks.
All registration and polling stations shall be managed by the staff as follows:
- Registration and Polling Station Manager: is the person in charge of running all procedures of registration, polling, sorting, counting, and tabulation in the registration and polling station. S/he also supervises the work of registration/polling staff and report to the registration/polling centre chair.
- Queue Controller: is the person that regulates the queues in a timely manner by guiding the applicants to the registration/polling station to ensure s/he has not registered before and make sure her/his fingers are not inked.
- 2 Registrars: verify the eligibility of the applicants through the identification documents. When the eligibility is verified, registrars register the applicant in OCV records and then issue her/him a voter card.
- Clarifying officer: explains the mechanism of marking the ballot paper.
- Ballot Paper Issuer: stamps the back of the ballot paper and then issues it to the voter, whose eligibility was verified by the registrars.
- Ballot Box Controller: is in charge of dipping the voter’s index finger in the indelible ink and also helping the voter insert the folded ballot in the correct ballot box.
All registration/polling station/centre staff will be trained on registration, polling, sorting and counting procedures so that they can all fill in for any staff member during her/his absence.

Article 8

Accreditation of observers, candidates/political entities agents and media representatives
For the purpose of OCV, the Commission shall authorize the IOM OCV local advisors in all host countries to accredit observers, candidates/political entities’ agents and media representatives.
Accreditation is carried out in accordance with the provisions of the implementing regulations on the accreditation of observers and candidates/political entities’ agents pursuant to Decision No 51/2012 and in accordance with the implementing regulations on the electoral campaign in accordance with the provisions of Board off Commissioners’ Decision No 59/2012.

Article 9

Accredited observers and individual candidates/political entities’ agents and media representatives shall abide by the HNEC code of conduct.

Article 10

Handover, Packing and Retrieval of Sensitive Materials
1. OCV offices hand over the materials to the registration and polling centres, which in turn delivers them to the registration and polling stations and will be then retrieved.
2. At the end of the counting process the registration and polling station manager packs the sensitive and non-sensitive materials and then hands them over to the chair of registration and polling centre, who will then transport them to the OCV office.
3. The Commission adopts special procedures to transport the results to the data centre in Tripoli.

Article 11

Penalties
Notwithstanding any more severe penalties stipulated by other relevant laws, provisions of Chapter 9 of Act No 4 of 2012 on the Elections of the National Congress regarding the breaches committed by the voter throughout the electoral process shall be applied.

Article 12

The provisions of these regulations shall come into force as of the date of enactment and shall be published on the HNEC website and other mass media.

Board of Commissioners of High National Elections Commission