Libya election: High turnout in historic vote

The BBC's Wyre Davis says the scorching heat has not deterred voters

Libyans have been voting in their first free national election for 60 years.

They are selecting a temporary assembly which will have the task of picking a cabinet and a prime minister.
Voting began late in some cities where gunmen disrupted voting, and one person was killed in a shooting close to a polling station in Ajdabiya.
Nevertheless, overall turnout has been described as high, with voters choosing their first government since Col Gaddafi came to power in 1969.
Few Libyans remember their last national vote in 1965, when no political parties were allowed.
Even fewer took part in their country's first parliamentary elections in February 1952, shortly after independence.
'Free at last'
 

At the scene

Tarik Kafala BBC News, Tripoli

In Tripoli's Martyr's Square, crowds started gathering before midday to wave flags, sing and honk their car horns as traffic came to a standstill.
When the polls closed, the celebrations got bigger and louder.
In the east of the country, where the revolution that ended the rule of Muammar Gaddafi started, the election has been marred by violence and the sacking of a polling station.
With 2,600 individuals and 400 political organisations to choose from, some voters appeared bewildered by the choice on offer, but the heavy voting I saw in Tripoli was ordered and calm.
One man, toothless and at least 80 years old, said he had never seen Libyans queue so quietly.

Polls opened at 08:00 (06:00 GMT), with reports of queues forming outside polling stations in the capital Tripoli.

"I feel free at last. It's a feeling I cannot describe: Like a human being," Asmaddin Arifi told the BBC.
Many voters carried the black, red and green flag of the Libyan revolution as they went to the polls.
Armed men stopped voters casting their ballots in the port town of Ras Lanuf. Voting was also disrupted in Brega and Ajdabiya.
Details of the fatal shooting in Ajdabiya were unclear but Deputy Interior Minister Omar al-Khadrawi told reporters in Tripoli that it took place as three men in a car tried to "threaten the voting process", Reuters news agency reported.