Libyans will vote in their first free national poll in more than half a century on Saturday amid fears that violence could taint an election meant to usher in a temporary national assembly and draw a line under Muammar Gadhafi's 42-year reign.

Voters will select a 200-member assembly that will choose a cabinet to replace the self-appointed interim government and also pick a new prime minister. Many of the 3,700 candidates have strong Islamic agendas.

The chamber was also due to appoint a committee charged with drafting a new constitution. But Libya's transitional rulers announced on Thursday this body would also be elected directly by Libyans - a move one analyst said was a bid to appease federalists that have urged a boycott of Saturday's vote.

The election will be closely watched around the world by both supporters and critics of NATO's bombing that helped underpin an uprising that ended Gadhafi's rule and finally claimed his life.

Yet for many of the 2.7 million registered voters, excitement about a first taste of democracy is mingled with fear that it will be hijacked by the militias, often with regional loyalties, who have flourished amid prevailing lawlessness.

"This is a new beginning for us, we are learning democracy," said Tarek Mabrouk, a shopkeeper in Tripoli. "We all hope that it will go well so we can move forward."

Once the new constitution is drafted, a referendum will be held and, if it establishes a parliamentary system, a full legislative poll will be held within six months.

Bumpy road ahead

Despite the excitement in Libya with dozens of parties springing up in recent months and as many as 3,700 candidates throwing their hats into the ring for the Saturday's polls, uncertainty still reigned in the post-war North African country, leaving open the question whether the landmark election will pull off without a hitch.

In mid-June, Libya's electoral committee announced it would delay the polls, originally set for June 19, to Saturday. Although Libyan authorities claimed that technical factors including vetting candidates, preparing ballot papers as well as appeal process led to the postponement, some analysts believe tough security challenges, dysfunctional central administration and bureaucracy contributed more to the decision.

While the election is designed to produce a government with a stronger mandate to rule than the current ex-rebel NTC, the credibility of the result will be questionable if voters are too scared to turn out or if post-vote disputes degenerate into gun battles among rival factions.

In some areas, such as the isolated southern district of Kufra in the Saharan desert, tribal clashes are so fierce that election observers will be unable to visit, and some question whether the vote can proceed in certain areas there.

On Thursday, two days before the election, a depot in Libya's eastern city of Ajdabiya was set on fire, leaving all electoral materials in storage destroyed, which may cause a further delay to the election.

On July 1, protesters stormed an office building of Libya's electoral commission located in the country's second largest city of Benghazi, demanding "fair" distribution of parliamentary seats in the upcoming election.

The incidents were the latest in a string of attacks that has poured cold water to Libyans' enthusiasm to cast their ballots for the national congress.

"It is a sign that wrestling over ballots will possibly lead to armed conflicts, even denial of election results and central government," Seif Okasa, an analyst at Egypt's al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, told Xinhua. "Libya might consequently be disorderly and chaotic."

The brief seizure of Tripoli International Airport by ex-rebels earlier in June and similar attacks on international institutions, including the US mission and the International Committee of the Red Cross in Benghazi, fueled concerns that the tough security challenges facing the country may derail the upcoming polls.

Reuters - Xinhua