A mere 13 percent of Libya's voters went to the polls Wednesday morning to participate in the country's parliament elections, according to Agence France Presse Wednesday.
By noon Wednesday, only 200,000 Libyans had cast their votes, according to election officials. Many have blamed the heat and related weather conditions from discouraging the nearly 1.5 million registered voters from coming to the polls, but many Libyans have also lost faith in the central government as chaos envelopes the north African country.
Registration for this parliament vote is less than half of its 2012 predecessor in which more than 2.8 million Libyans registered to vote in the country's first free election in more than 40 years.
Not all polling stations were open Wednesday as well due to security reasons, said AFP. In towns such as Derna, Kufra and Sabha, polling stations remained closed in light of regular tribal fighting and Islamist presence, reported officials.
The central government has struggled to maintain order, with various armed-rebel militias and factions vying for power, control and territory throughout the country. Many of the groups helped to oust long-time dictator Moammar Gaddafi in 2011, but now regularly "defy state authority" and have "carved out their own fiefdoms," reported AFP.
The infighting has also been extremely detrimental to Libya's economy, which relies heavily on its oil exports for income. Tripoli has often had to vie for control of several refineries with militias in its eastern parts of the country over the past year.
The culmination of Libya's troubles have made its citizens skeptical of the parliamentary vote, with many fearing that the election will just produce another "interim assembly," reported AFP.
