Libyans celebrate free vote despite violence with a turnout of about 60 percent

Libyans are celebrating their first free national election in 60 years after defying violence to turn out for a poll widely seen as drawing a line under Muammar Gaddafi's dictatorship.    

Revelers lit the night sky over the capital, Tripoli, with fireworks, while in the eastern city of Benghazi, scene of anti-poll protests by those wanting more autonomy, people celebrated by firing rocket-propelled grenades in the direction of the sea.    

Even in Gaddafi's hometown of Sirte, which saw some of the worst fighting and damage in last year's NATO-backed uprising to end his 42-year rule, there was relief that the vote on Saturday had gone smoothly.    

One man was shot dead by a security guard on Saturday as he tried to steal a ballot box in the eastern town of Ajdabiya. Another was killed in gunfire in a clash between protesters and backers of the poll in Benghazi, cradle of last year's uprising.    

But as voting closed around the country, officials said 98 percent of poll centers had opened at some point during the day for the ballot for a 200-member assembly that will name a prime minister and pave the way for parliamentary elections in 2013.   

The election commission said after voting ended that 1.6 million of some 2.8 million registered voters had cast their ballots, a turnout of just under 60 percent.    

Asked at a news conference when results would be published, commission chairman Nuri Al-Abbar said they would start to emerge on Monday, but added, "The first winner is the Libyan people."    

Candidates with Islamist agendas dominate the field of more than 3,700 hopefuls, suggesting Libya will be the next Arab Spring country - after Egypt and Tunisia - to see religious parties secure a grip on power.    

The publication of results could yet be a potential flashpoint if rival factions dispute the outcome in a country still awash with arms from its civil war.      

In Benghazi, protesters stormed a polling station just after voting started and set fire to hundreds of ballot slips in a public square in a bid to undermine the election's credibility.    

"There wasn't enough security at the station to stop the attackers," Nasser Zwela, 28, told Reuters. At least four voting centres were the scenes of tense standoffs between anti-poll protesters and armed locals seeking to prevent any disruption.    

Supporters of the NATO-backed uprising that overthrew Gaddafi dismissed suggestions that the violence showed the election lacked legitimacy.    

"After more than 40 years in which Libya was in the grip of a dictator, today's historic election underscores that the future of Libya is in the hands of the Libyan people," U.S. President Barack Obama said in a statement.    

Obama pledged the United States would act as a partner even as he cautioned there would still be difficult challenges ahead.    

"Just one year ago, Libyans were still fighting against a brutal tyrant," said British Foreign Secretary William Hague, whose government was a main player in the conflict.    

On Friday, armed groups shut off half of Libya's oil exports to press demands for greater representation in the assembly. At least three major oil-exporting terminals were affected.        

Reuters