Libyan restive regions reset constitutional panel polls to Wednesday

Restive regions in Libya will hold their polls for a constitutional panel Wednesday after earlier votes had to be rescheduled due to violence, the election commission chief said Friday. Nuri al-Abbar told reporters that the eastern region of Derna and the southern regions of Sebha, Oubari, Murzak and Kufra will elect their seats in the panel to be responsible for writing the nation's new constitution on Wednesday. While most part of the North African country hold the polls on Thursday, violence prevented the five regions' voters from heading to their polling stations. Gunmen killed a school janitor, bombed five polling stations and forced another to shut down in Derna. Meanwhile, some ethnic groups, who complained of being under- represented in the design of the panel, hijacked the electoral material and prevented them from distribution in the southern regions. Libya is still suffering from rampant lawlessness due to militia groups' control over swaths of lands more than two years after an uprising, as part of the 2011 Arab turmoil, toppled long- time strongman leader Muammar Gaddafi.